Suchergebnisse

The publication was compiled to provide the Lithuanian reader with a comprehensive understanding of genderresponsive economic initiatives. It provides a conceptual and theoretical framework, traces the evolution of work inthis area, shows how gender economics and gender analysis have been used as a tool of a more efficient allocation ofeconomic resources.The article outlines and discusses the main gender problems and their impact into the government economicpolicy not only on the micro– but on the macro level too. It is the discussion about the gender responsive budget,trade liberalisation and gender impact into the trade liberalisation and gender responsive financial policy.The author concludes the integration and implementation of the gender analysis into the Lithuanian governmenteconomic policy could accelerate the sustainable economic growth and soften the consequences of globalisationprocess.

New public management challenges the way in which ethical aspects of public service had been treated. Newperspective requires evaluating existing public service values and communicating them, coordinating institutionaland private attempts seeking new quality of public service, creating an ethical infrastructure first of all on the nationallevel.The author concentrates on conceptual codes of conduct's framework and the implementation issues. Thedescription of creation codes of conduct for Lithuanian politicians and public servants are provided trying to evaluatethem in the broader context.

In this article a presently existing public administration system in Lithuania as well as the position of municipalities(subjects of local self–government) in that system are described, the features of the "real" local self–governmentare being formulated, potentially possible groups of problems of local self–government are distinguished and currentlymain problems of municipalities of Lithuania are indicated.The author of the article notes that in Lithuania up till now the concept of the "real" local self–government hasnot been clearly and unambiguously defined yet. That makes the formulation of target goals, tasks and means as wellas their implementation developing the system of local self–government more difficult. Seeking at least partly to fillthe existing gap, the author of the article formulates eight features of the "real" local self–government.Having defined the problem of local self–government as a deviation from the "normal" conditions for thefunctioning of the local self–government system that cause negative changes in the system, the author of the articleshows the relationship between the "normal" conditions for the functioning of local self–government and the formulatedfeatures of the "real" local self–government. According to this relationship the author of the article indicateseight potentially possible groups of problems of local self–government.On the basis of the accumulated knowledge and acquired experience the author of the article points out fivegroups of currently particularly important problems for local self–government of Lithuania, which are conditionallynamed as follows: 1) suppressed independence; 2) insufficient constructiveness of the relationship among differentlevels of government; 3) economic problems of municipalities; 4) not involving community members in managinglocal affairs; 5) inertness of municipalities.

The overview of various theories allows us to conclude that civil society is an important scientific concept and a multi-layeredphenomenon. Philosophical ethical and cultural paradigm stresses the importance of the personality in civil society initiatives, also ittakes the role of the State as an absolute factor. Civic consciousness and responsibility when linked to education, is broadly understoodas civility. Variety of social systems and their change is interpreted with reservation and in relative terms. Political scientists areinterested in a more narrow aspect of civil society – into its manifestation and development under conditions of the democratic State.For them the basic is concept of interest groups is essential therefore public opinion and public discourse are in the focus of the research.Recently topic of corruption, interpreted as a reflection of the civic values functional in the given society, became very popular amongthe researchers. Sociologists view civil society as a political, social and economic complex. High importance is attributed to suchconcepts as volunteerism, philanthropy, trust, etc. Specialists of public administration base their insights on the background defined bythe above-described theories and try to confer them practical meaning, recognize applicable elements, apt to managerial knowledge,create realistic strategies how to foster civil society that is considered to be an important, positive phenomenon that could be improvedby the legal and managerial instruments.

The functions and powers of local self-governance are broadly discussed at all levels of government institutions,non-governmental organizations and communities. There is an expressed position that local communities andtheir local self-governing institutions should be given the power of subsidiary decision making in locally specificissues. However, year after year, the unanimous attitude is suppressed by financial and fiscal dependence upon thecentral government, unreasonably large territorial units with high population density. These circumstances limitdown the decision-making and, moreover, the implementation of the decisions. From this point of view, the financialand fiscal powers of local self-governing institutions and, consequently, the decision-making strata are significantlydifferent from those in other Baltic and Central European countries, as well as Scandinavian states. This articledeals with the analysis of local self-governing administration in terms of its fiscal and financial empowerment, thesize of the local communities and its impact on decision-making. A comparison is drawn with Scandinavian, centralEuropean and Baltic countries.

A genesis of the academic programmes in the field of public administration, tendencies of their development in different countries (includingLithuania) and peculiarities of content are discussed in the article. It is shown that in different periods of development of public administration as anacademic discipline tasks and objectives were changing, however permanently the fundamental concerns were effectiveness in achieving the goals ofgovernment and constitutional support (political effectiveness) and competence in the performance of all public enterprises (managerial effectiveness). Itis why academic programmes in the field of public administration were developed taking into account political, legal, managerial and occupationalperspectives. Modern academic programmes of this field are interdisciplinary. By analysing programmes of different universities, it was found that theydiffer from each other in their structure and courses content, in particularly varies their focus (management, political and legal). It is shown thatcontemporary challenges for public administration (ideas of the new public administration and new public management) are giving new tasks for publicadministration academic programmes and therefore the focus of the programmes is changing more and more often emphasising significance ofmanagement subjects.

The Lithuanian academic community groundlessly pays little attention to the State security policy, even thoughit was of considerable importance in Lithuania's joining to the NATO and EU. In autumn 2002 the efficiency of thepolicy was positively evaluated in the general context of the country and Lithuania eventually received an officialinvitation to join the structures.The article analyses the Lithuanian State security policy, its peculiarities, development from 1990 to 2002, aswell as provides suggestions for the development periods and gives prognosis on its development perspectives.

Spanish electronic government projects are analysed in this article. These projects are the reduction of pricesfor the Internet connection, information society development, modern tax system in Internet, electronic electionpossibilities and perspectives, "Unified Internet window" project, electronic certificates project, telework establishmentand the perspectives of electronic administration. Spanish electronic government were creating in the realizationof individual projects from the year 1998. Spain is a young and quickly developing European Union state andbecause of this the experience of Spanish e-government projects would be very useful for Lithuania.

Lithuania faces difficult dilemmas in the field of old age security. Aging population, weak bonds betweencurrent wages, salaries and amount of (size of) future pensions causes certain dissatisfactions and risks. They along- side with the pressure of certain interest groups which are interested in possibility to enter financial flows and to take benefits from partial privatization of these flows create certain gnoseological, political and ideological climate surrounding the issue of pension reform. In these circumstances the use of neutral, scientific approach would be helpful. Together with more open, comprehensive, democratic discourse it would add to the rationality, prudence of the decisions concerning the issue.Author of the article argues that the currently functioning pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system together with some shortcomings have its advantages which should not be neglected in the discussion on the pension reforms. On the other hand private pension system based on individual accumulation is not so advantages and effective as its por- trayed by its proponents. It is connected with rather high risk both for individuals and for state. The danger of loss of money in the financial markets in case of downfall of the value of securities and the threat to budgetary stability of the country are two major reasons to refrain from overly enthusiastic attitudes towards private, especially manda- tory, pension funds.The experience of Argentina, Hungary, Poland should caution us against impulsive, non-comprehensive de-cision. West European and especially Scandinavian pattern could serve us a good service.

Deeds and decisions made by Lithuanian politicians and public servants are deserving greater public and mass media attention whenever before.Authors directs readers attention to the aspects of significance of ethics in public administration, characterizes the situation of ethics in contemporaryLithuania. Ethical dimension in Lithuanian politics and administration is underestimated. Lithuania has several laws which define ethical principles forpublic servants, prohibit the conflict of interest etc. Laws without their effective implementation are worthless. Professional code of ethics for politiciansand public servants, ethical education and training could help to create ethical climate and ensure public trust which are very important for democracy.Authors concludes that ethical politics and administration in Lithuania could be reached by formulating ethical strategy on the state level.

Democratic government and public sector modernization presumes equality, majority rule, citizen participation,accountability. Major dimensions of modernization process include management innovations such as totalquality management.The challenges of modern organizations require the objective of the manager. Public sector needs morepeople in managerial roles who can find simplicity and order amidst organizational confusion and chaos.Public organizations dependence on pluralistic decision processes – that is processes through which manydifferent people and groups are likely to be involved in any particular decision – makes the process of managing change in the public sector quite complicated. The classical goal of efficiency and the new public management may become partners in opposing the expansion of citizen participation.