Describing contemporary problems of coordinationbetween monetary and fiscal policy inthe European Union (the EU) as a whole and ineach particular member state it is easy to noticethat the monetary policy mechanisms are muchbetter protected from biases created by the politicalcycle. The implementation of the conceptof the central bank independence in various nationalmutations and the European Central Bankversion introduced more stability into the Europeanmonetary policy though it did not solvethe problem of transparency of that policy.
The behaviour of woven fabrics for military clothing was evaluated using punch loading investigations under theconditions similar to those during real garment wear; i.e. in which plane material sustains biaxial deformation. Duringthe experiment specially prepared specimens were loaded with the punch up to tearing. They were loaded also with thesame punch for sustained creep process. Creep tests were carried out with dry and wet specimens. Mechanical stabilityof textile materials was evaluated by relative values of creep test parameters. For the evaluation of these parameters thespecial test unit created at Kaunas University of Technology was used. The objects of the investigation were wovenfabrics from cotton – PES blended yarns, with camouflage printing typical for military clothing. Two samples of testedmaterials were water repellent. The water repellent treatment improved mechanical stability of textile material, so waterrepellent fabrics are in preference to outdoor training clothing.
Beyond any doubt, the division of tax charges should be just and, thus, the tax legislation, similarly asthe tax system, should be established so as to meet the standard of justice. However, the ethic standard ofjustice causes significant complications in the legislative practice. These mainly result from the fact thatthere is no confidence in the idea of just taxation. The reasons why the principle of just taxation cannot betrusted are different for the legislator and different for the taxpayer. The legislator's distrust stems, above all,from fear that it might not be possible to connect the just taxation with effectiveness in fulfilling the incomefunction. In the legislative practice a strong wrong belief continues to be shared that the just taxationamounts to the reducing of tax proceeds. Whereas the fear of the taxpayers that the system of tax chargesapplies to results from their awareness which has been developed and enhanced long enough to show thatthe legislator, while referring to the concept of justice, too often carries out reforms that contradict it. The taxjustice – as an argument underlying the structure of the tax system – is employed much too frequently tomask the fiscal interest of the State, that is the effective fulfillment of the income function. What is importantjust as well is the fact that the ethical postulate of just taxation can provide the legislator with groundsto formulate various courses of action and, as a result, various tax law solutions.There is a variety of tax rules that can be deemed to incorporate the postulate of justice [1]. However, amore complicated question arises whether the legislator can put the just taxation into practice by referring tothe idea of justice. This has always raised doubts [2].
The article analyses main features of processes of political/administrative decision initiation and evaluationin Lithuanian municipalities.Demand of development of decision-making process in municipalities was inspired by: a) decentralization;b) changes in the institutional structure of municipalities; c) economic/social partner and municipalitiescooperation in making important to communities municipal decisions. The most relevant areas of decision-making improvement are analyzed using methods of sociological survey and organizational structureanalyses. Results of the research shows that a great number of Lithuanian municipalities strives to ensurehigh quality of decision making and suggestion discussing. Nevertheless, it is very common for municipalitieswhile reacting to the problems to thrust decisions, to form the policy and make decisions instead ofarriving at consensus and decision planning.
The peculiarities of Lithuania's civil service during the first five years after Lithuania regained it'sindependence are analyzed in this article in the light of forming a model of civil service, management of thecivil service and teaching and improving the qualification of the workers. With reference to non-fiction and actsof law it has been shown, that during that period the evolution of the civil service was spontaneous and evenchaotic: loyalty for the nascent democracy had a big role during the first years of independence, hence thequalification and competence of the civil service were not premier; the establishment of the legal acts was late;too little attention was paid to improving the qualification of the officials of the civil service. The material inthe article shows that, except all the shown problems, the experience of that period made a background toforming the contemporary civil service of Lithuania.
The forms of decentralization, focusing on the main features and differences of these forms, are analyzed in thisarticle. It is shown that each type of decentralization - political, administrative, fiscal, and market - has differentcharacteristics, policy implications, and conditions for success. There are defined the main goals of decentralizationreforms and identified the tools for theirs achievement. Decentralization is considered as a sine qua non not only in thedevelopment of local self-government, but with regard to civil society as a whole and the greatest factor of social change.Decentralization can address poverty, gender inequality, environmental concerns, and the improvement of healthcare,education and access to technology. Moreover, decentralization does not only affect government and civil service, but isconditional on the involvement of community organizations, stakeholders in the private sector, international aidorganizations and citizens. The measurements of decentralization are analyzed too. Since, the standard measures fail totake into account the different degrees of decentralization and the true decision-making authority of sub-nationalinstitutions over revenues and expenditures, there are focusing on the search for more impartial and integrated evaluationindicators.
Despite to the ambiguity of the political processes, the fall of the communist system and the re-establishmentof the independence of Lithuania were closely related. Post – Communist transition in 1992–1996 has unexpectedlyreturned the former communists (Labour Democratic Party of Lithuania) to the Olympus of power. They,having controlled the Seimas (Parliament of Lithuania) and the Government, have performed the reasonable domestic and foreign policy, yet drawn – up by the program attitudes of Sàjûdis. The aims of one political party toimpose political dictate to all other political forces was not accepted by society. The complicated relations betweenruling majority and opposition have stimulated the political polarization of society as well as upgrow of the civicenmity, and so prevented social development of civic society.
The article discusses a successful rearrangement of the economy which was carried out in German FederalRepublic. It's "godfather" became Professor Liudwig Erhard whose personality combined whose theoretical knowledgeand an experience of a head leader of economy. Drastic reforms were performed on his initiative and underhis command. Thanks to these reforms defeated, ruined and disgraced during 10 postwar years Germany threw outideological stereotypes and all schemes of planned economy into the dump of history. Besides that it presented tothe world "an economic miracle" which made Germany a prosperous and powerful state.Socially orientated conception of market economy, always showing its best result during a short period of time,was raised into the rank of official GFR doctrine and become the basis of economic programmer or ChristianDemocrats Alliance.The article tells about the neoliberalism credo's founder – Freiburg's School.Particular attention is paid to Professor Walter Eucken and his social notions. Besides that it discusses thetransformational problem of classical liberalism and shows social guides produced by Erhard.The article pays attention to the role of the state in the terms of social market economy. It discusses the threatsof father state.The article presents Erhard's conception of "formed community" and discusses it's parallels with the opencommunity and legal state.
Seit den 1990er Jahren stossen viele der 2'842 Schweizer Gemeinden, bei der Erfüllung ihrer Aufgaben anLeistungsgrenzen. Als Antwort auf dieses Problem sind im Alpenland mit 7 Millionen Einwohnern durch dieGemeinden unterschiedliche Reformen eingeleitet worden. Der Beitrag fokussiert auf die interkommunaleZusammenarbeit (IKZ) und Gemeindezusammenschlüsse, welche in der Schweiz zu den am Häufigsten verbreitetenReformen gehören. Eine postalische Befragung aller Schweizer Gemeinden und 13 Fallstudien zeigen, dassGemeindezusammenschlüsse tendenziell in leistungsschwachen und in kleinen Gemeinden durchgeführt werden.IKZ ist hingegen bei allen Gemeindetypen verbreitet. Reformwillige Behörden, intensive soziale Kontakte zwischenden Einwohnern der Gemeinden, eine günstige topografische Lage und die Politik der übergeordneten Staatsebenenfördern die Reformfreudigkeit. Nach Zusammenschlüssen und Kooperationen steigt in der Regel dieDienstleistungsqualität. Hingegen findet nur selten eine Entlastung des Gemeindehaushaltes statt. Obwohl dieGemeinen in der Schweiz um einiges kleiner sind als in Litauen, lassen sich auch für den baltischen StaatSchlussfolgerungen ziehen
[First paragraph of Introduction]: In this paper, we investigate the evolving relationship between government and voluntary organizations in Ontario that is occurring in the wake of a prolonged period of funding cuts. The cuts are a manifestation of a major philosophical shift in government-third sector relations. We have already examined the impact of this shift on voluntary organizations in several papers (Foster and Meinhard, 2002; Meinhard and Foster, 2003a & b). We now turn our attention to the government sector and its vision for the future. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management Citation: ; Meinhard, A. G., Foster, M., Berger, I., and Moher, L. (2003). The Evolving Relationship Between Government and the Voluntary Sector in Ontario. (Working Paper Series Volume 2003(2)). Toronto : Ted Rogers School of Management, Centre for Volunteer Sector Studies, Ryerson University.
Paper explores role of the Europeanization of private law to economic growth in EU and especially in Eastern and Central Europe states. The purpose of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper seeks to bring out into the open various aspects of the Europeanization of private law – from process and outcome perspectives and analyses private law importance to economic growth especially to attract FDI. It focuses on selected aspects of EU private law and legal policies and other initiatives at European level. Second, and correlatively, the paper aims to introduce the theme of the Europeanization of private law into current debates concerning the effectiveness of Lisbon Agenda. Europeanization of private law both reinforces and strengthens the Lisbon agenda in order to create EU as a competitive in global market and by promoting entrepreneurship culture. On another hand importance of functional convergence of private law systems and competition of private law systems for economic growth can not be ignored because in CEECs foreign direct investment is one of the major sources of growth and those countries could not compete for capital using other means such as natural sources or size of their market as their competitive advantage.
The paper deals with the concepts of image and reputation and peculiarities of managing them in thecontext of politics and public institutions. Substantial stages of image and reputation management developmentare identified and characterized. The necessity for creating sustainable image and seeking a strongpositive reputation, as well as grounding reputation management on the base of holistic approach, is presented.Characteristics and factors driving ones' image and reputation, submitted in the paper, and proposedtheoretical issues and practical considerations of managing image and reputation should be consideredas guidelines for developing comprehensive image and reputation management system in both politicsand public institutions. Exploring such a system is extremely important both in politics, as image-intensive sector,and in public institutions as demand for transparency and power of communication grow increasingly.
The article reveals uniqueness of strategic management system in municipal governments. It determines thegap between theoretical interpretation of strategic planning and its practical understanding. In the analysis ofenvironment, it is suggested to analyse these additional areas: dynamism of environment, need of interest groups,and competitive advantage. The analysis of internal factors should be complemented by studies of characteristicsof executives, strategies (general, departamental, and functional strategies), operational indicators, and qualityrequirements.
Treatments of the concepts "team" and "team work" in human resources management are analysed in thearticle, distinguishing their links with organizational psychology and organizational sociology. This is a new viewto the team work as to the interdisciplinary research subject.There are no traditional methods to analyse organizational and individual activities, team-based modernorganization is rendered comprehensively. Team and team work concepts, structural borders are purified, workorganization activities research contents is provided taking into consideration the specific organizational context.It is concluded that team work as a phenomenon is subject of many social sciences (human resources management,organizational psychology, educology, organizational sociology etc.). Each of these sciences creates a peculiar(original) attitude towards the team work phenomenon.E. g., psychology explains the team work as interaction between individuals, educology deems it like competence,which can be trained and developed. In the organizational sociology context the team work is seen likeinteraction between groups and relations inside the organization. Neither of the mentioned social sciences takenseparately can create versatile and universal theoretical image (model) of the team work which would be suitableto execute interdisciplinary research and to develop human resources management practice.After having analysed the role of team work, the premises of efficient functioning as well as opportunities inthe contemporary work organizations, democratic reconstructing, qualitative role of team work is noted.
The free movement of people, goods and services inside the European Union (EU) is one of the main benefits for citizens and businesses people in the EU, which provides wider ranges and price competition. Services encompass 70 percents of GNP and employment in the EU member states. Unfortunately, different countries have different regulation systems, which make legal and administrative barriers for service providers. Such situation blocks the free ways of providing cross-border services and increasing cross-border competition in service markets. The Directive on Services 2006/123/EC is a part of the economic reform process launched by the Lisbon European Council (the Lisbon Agenda) with a perspective of making the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by the year 2010. The objective of the Directive is to provide the necessary legal framework that will eliminate the barriers to the freedom of establishment for service providers and the free movement of services between the EU member states, giving both, the providers and the recipients of services, the legal certainty they need to exercise these two fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Treaty. This article aims to identify the Services Directive's impact on Lithuanian service market.
