In the chapter, in the light of the concept of gender democracy the Lithuanian situation in respect to the politics of gender equality is described and insights into the developments of gender democracy are provided, based on the case study of the transposition of the EC Directive 2004/113/EC on equal treatment of men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. The study reveals that the process and content of national and European gender equality legislation vividly display a mismatch of agendas and underscores deficiencies of gender democracy in Lithuania. The chapter also provides hints into eventual dynamics of gender democracy in Lithuania.
In the chapter, in the light of the concept of gender democracy the Lithuanian situation in respect to the politics of gender equality is described and insights into the developments of gender democracy are provided, based on the case study of the transposition of the EC Directive 2004/113/EC on equal treatment of men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. The study reveals that the process and content of national and European gender equality legislation vividly display a mismatch of agendas and underscores deficiencies of gender democracy in Lithuania. The chapter also provides hints into eventual dynamics of gender democracy in Lithuania.
In the chapter, in the light of the concept of gender democracy the Lithuanian situation in respect to the politics of gender equality is described and insights into the developments of gender democracy are provided, based on the case study of the transposition of the EC Directive 2004/113/EC on equal treatment of men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. The study reveals that the process and content of national and European gender equality legislation vividly display a mismatch of agendas and underscores deficiencies of gender democracy in Lithuania. The chapter also provides hints into eventual dynamics of gender democracy in Lithuania.
In the chapter, in the light of the concept of gender democracy the Lithuanian situation in respect to the politics of gender equality is described and insights into the developments of gender democracy are provided, based on the case study of the transposition of the EC Directive 2004/113/EC on equal treatment of men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. The study reveals that the process and content of national and European gender equality legislation vividly display a mismatch of agendas and underscores deficiencies of gender democracy in Lithuania. The chapter also provides hints into eventual dynamics of gender democracy in Lithuania.
The article examines the post-communist Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish parliamentary elites and their relations with the Soviet regime. Two dimensions of these relations are highlighted: retrospectively, negative political experience in the former political regime (membership in the Communist Party and the nomenklatura) and positive credentials of being involved in the dissident movement. The study is guided by hypotheses underlying revolutionary nature of post-communist transition and stressing achievements of the electoral politics, market reforms and liberal mass media. Research shows different shares of ex-communist activists and ex-dissidents, as well as their asynchronous changes in the postcommunist parliamentary elites. Variations are related to different meta-histories of the nomenklaturas, the communist parties and dissident movement in the country cases and recent experiences of democratization. ; Straipsnyje analizuojamas pokomunistinis Estijos, Latvijos, Lietuvos ir Lenkijos parlamentinis elitas ir jo santykis su sovietiniu režimu. Išskiriami du šių santykių aspektai: neigiama politinė patirtis esant tarybiniam režimui (narystė komunistų partijoje ir nomenklatūroje) ir teigiama politinė patirtis dėl dalyvavimo disidentų judėjime. Tyrimas pagrįstas prielaidomis, pabrėžiančiomis revoliucinę postkomunistinių pokyčių prigimtį ir akcentuojančiomis rinkiminės politikos, laisvosios rinkos ir liberalios žiniasklaidos pasiekimus. Atskleidžiama, kad tiriamąjį parlamentinį elitą sudaro skirtingi ekskomunistų ir eksdisidentų santykiai. Skirtumų atsiranda dėl skirtingos šalių nomenklatūrų, komunistų partijų ir disidentų judėjimų istorijos ir skirtingos šalių demokratizacijos patirties.
Sparti komercializacija ir info-pramoginės žiniasklaidos plėtra skatina vadinamojo medijų imperializmo tyrimus pokomunistiniame regione. Politiniuose ir moksliniuose debatuose ginčijamasi dėl autentiško politinio ir pilietinio dalyvavimo idealų atviroje viešojoje sferoje (šie idealai priešinami populizmui ir visuomenės įsitraukimui į pramogas). Nors Lietuvoje politinės komunikacijos demokratinės kokybės temos dar tik randasi akademinių svarstymų ir tyrimų akiratyje, Lietuvos politinis elitas ėmėsi savitos įstatymų leidybos iniciatyvos (unikalios pokomunistiniame regione ir už jo ribų), kurios esminis siekis – kontroliuoti laisvąją žiniasklaidą, ypač rinkimų kampanijų metu. Įstatymas Lietuvoje (galiojęs nuo 2008 m. rugpjūčio iki 2010 m. spalio) visiškai uždraudė komercinę politinę reklamą televizijoje ir drastiškai apribojo politinę reklamą spaudoje vykstant rinkimų kampanijoms. Straipsnyje analizuojamos intelektualinės ir politinės šios elitų iniciatyvos Lietuvoje prielaidos. Išryškinamos paralelės tarp akademinių ir politinių (partinių) samprotavimų. Įrodinėjama, kad šiam reiškiniui tirti pati tinkamiausia akademinė perspektyva yra interpretacinė politikos analizė, kuri politiškai relevantiškų aktorių turimas žinias (epistemines bendruomenes) pripažįsta esant esminiu politikos formavimo veiksniu. Akcentuojama, kad interpretacinė politikos analizė iš esmės yra daug demokratiškesnė negu technokratinės viešosios politikos analizės schemos.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: politinė reklama, rinkimų kampanija, laisvoji žiniasklaida, parlamento debatai, episteminė bendruomenė.Controlled or controlling free media and electoral campaigns: the legislative experiment in Lithuania 2008Irmina Matonytė SummaryIn post-modern political societies autonomous reason is cast in the situation of permanent creation with neither signposts nor recipes which it could trust and consider once for all tested and having their reliability certified (Bauman, 1999, p. 85).Rapid commercialization and infotainment in the post-communist region spurred the studies of the so-called media imperialism. Political and scholarly debates started addressing ideals of genuine political and civic participation (as opposed to populism and entertainment-driven engagement) in an open public sphere. Albeit in Lithuania the issues of democratic quality of political communication are only an emerging field of academic reflection and research, the Lithuanian political elites undertook some original (in the post-communist region and beyond) legislative initiatives aimed to control free media, during electoral campaigns in particular. The Lithuanian law (effective from August 2008 till October 2010) completely forbad commercial ads on TV and significantly reduced commercial ads in the national press during elections. The intellectual and political background of this elitist initiative to control free media in Lithuania is analysed. Parallels between the academic and partisan reasoning are revealed. The need and interest to employ the interpretative policy analysis, which exposes the vital role of knowledge held by policy-relevant actors, is suggested as a more appropriate and in its essence more democratic approach than any technocratic analysis of public policies.Key words: political advertising, electoral campaign, free media, parliamentary debates, epistemic community
Šiame straipsnyje, pagrįstame galios lauko samprata, naudojant lyginamąjį metodą, pateikiama dėl europeizacijos kintanti nacionalinių sprendimų priėmimo struktūra (mažėjantis netiesioginis pasitikėjimas nacionalinėmis vyriausybėmis). Lygia greta analizuojamas atskirų elito dalių ir šalies gyventojų pasitikėjimas nacionaline valdžia (pasaulinės ekonominės krizės atveju, 2009 m.) ir išryškinamas žiniasklaidos elito (ne)pasitikėjimo parlamentu ir vyriausybe paradoksas Lietuvoje, šį reiškinį lyginant su Vokietijos ir Vengrijos atvejais. Atskleidžiama, kaip atskirų elito dalių įtakos nacionalinių sprendimų priėmimo struktūroje samprata tarp kitų galios lauko žaidėjų priklauso nuo nacionalinio lygmens veiksnių.
Referring to the concepts, communicative democracy is defined as free, open and democratic communication organized around three equally legitimate public sphere actors – politicians, journalists and public opinion, and populism is understood as good, entertaining and effective communication with people, eroding basic functions of the political parties (institutionalization of ideological conflicts) and politicians (representation), the paper provides insights about the dangers to quality of democracy if the free mass media gets utterly away from political parallelism. Special attention is placed on the tendencies of media personnel to be active in the political life. The paper conceptualizes a tremendous decrease (by one third) in public trust in mass media in Lithuania, observed from 1998 to 2009 and interprets this change as a cumulative result of the post-communist illstructured political field under pressing liberalization and democratization coupled with specific patterns of the Lithuanian political culture and public sphere. In the conditions of a still relatively high public trust in mass-media and scarce foreign ownership of the mass-media outlets in Lithuania, the local media barons are able to produce and impose their own public-agenda. The Lithuanian massmedia and government relations evolve along the lines of the zero-sum game: they seek to control each other, and at the same time try to avoid being controlled by the other, while any other pattern of inter-relations does not appear as viable and appropriate. INTUNE project survey (2009) shows that the media elite's influence in the national decision making process is significantly higher in Lithuania than, for instance, in Germany or Hungary.Key words: populism, communicative democracy, mass-media ownership, public sphere, public trust.
Social capital is a term, which is widely used in social sciences today. The concept has been coined by the French philosopher and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and popularized by the American political scientist Robert Putnam. However, the two authors talk of rather different phenomena while using the same term; they assign different importance (cause-effect) to different components and events of the social life; they draw rather dissimilar recommendations concerning actions of the public authorities and individuals. In this text the two theories are outlined, then some data from the survey "Social capital in Kaunas and Kaunas region" conducted in spring 2003 are presented and interpreted. The interpretation does not allow much hope that the social capital understood as participation in social activities and voluntary organizations might in some automatic (miraculous) way – without changing power relations and increasing material well being of the majority of social groups – lead to enhanced citizenship and community development. Active and responsible role of the municipalities (local authorities) might be one of the actual leverages to encourage and improve development of civil society (non-governmental organizations). Sociological research shows that the social capital in a constructive way shall be understood as dependent variable, which might be positively influenced (affected) by the "good" governance.
Social capital is a term, which is widely used in social sciences today. The concept has been coined by the French philosopher and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and popularized by the American political scientist Robert Putnam. However, the two authors talk of rather different phenomena while using the same term; they assign different importance (cause-effect) to different components and events of the social life; they draw rather dissimilar recommendations concerning actions of the public authorities and individuals. In this text the two theories are outlined, then some data from the survey "Social capital in Kaunas and Kaunas region" conducted in spring 2003 are presented and interpreted. The interpretation does not allow much hope that the social capital understood as participation in social activities and voluntary organizations might in some automatic (miraculous) way – without changing power relations and increasing material well being of the majority of social groups – lead to enhanced citizenship and community development. Active and responsible role of the municipalities (local authorities) might be one of the actual leverages to encourage and improve development of civil society (non-governmental organizations). Sociological research shows that the social capital in a constructive way shall be understood as dependent variable, which might be positively influenced (affected) by the "good" governance. ; Socialinis kapitalas – sąvoka, plačiai ir įvairiai vartojama šiandienos socialiniuose moksluose. Į mokslo terminiją ją įtraukė prancūzų filosofas ir sociologas Pierre'as Bourdieu, o ypač išpopuliarino amerikiečių politologas Robertas Putnamas. Šių mokslininkų taikomi analizės vienetai, keliami klausimai ir daromos išvados yra tiesiog radikaliai skirtingos. Ir nors iš jų studijų išplaukiančios rekomendacijos nėra tarp savęs nesuderinamos, – jos papildo ir sustiprina viena kitą, – vis dėlto jos apima skirtingus prioritetus, priskiria nevienodą svarbą įvairiems socialinio gyvenimo reiškiniams. Tekste pristatomos abi teorijos ir jų pagrindu interpretuojami tyrimo "Kauno socialinis kapitalas" duomenys (2003). Išryškinama, kad nėra didelės tikimybės, jog socialinis kapitalas, aptinkamas dalyvavimo visuomeninėje veikloje ir nevyriausybinėse organizacijose dėka, gali kokiu nors reikšmingu ir automatišku (stebuklingu) būdu – nesikeičiant galios santykiams ir nedidėjant bendrai daugumos gyventojų materialinei gerovei – didinti pilietiškumą ar bendruomenės raidą. Aktyvus ir atsakingas vietos valdžios (savivaldos) vaidmuo yra vienas iš svertų, kurie gali paspartinti ir pagerinti pilietinės visuomenės (nevyriausybinių organizacijų) raidą. Sociologinis tyrimas rodo, kad socialinis kapitalas konstruktyviai turėtų būti suvokiamas kaip priklausomas kintamasis dydis, kurį gali teigiamai veikti "geras valdymas".
On the basis of qualitative research (over 20 semistructured interviews) study concerning interrelations between women's career and political environment, political-cultural norms as well as organizational situations and factors has been carried out. The main assumption is that career associates a person and the public sphere, reflects personal self-realization in society, community (career here is understood as personal trajectory to socially important positions in the decision making structure). Politics is analyzed through three axes. First, politics is a social game of legitimacy, influence, and authority. Second, politics is a concrete set of instruments (laws, regulations, unwritten rules, etc.) operating in a society in order to solve conflicts and to secure functioning of communal life. Third, politics is a structure of influences and value orientations in a close personal environment that is always vibrant, dynamic and open. Such politics means efforts, intentions and orientations of a concrete person to self-realize and to consolidate personal position in any concrete environment. In the present study life histories and stories of women from the middle class in the post-soviet Lithuania are being analyzed with an attempt to recognize how they operate in their environment and what are peculiar "feminine" political moves. Recommendations how it could be possible to change the existing situation into more career women favorable direction are provided at the end of the text.
On the basis of qualitative research (over 20 semistructured interviews) study concerning interrelations between women's career and political environment, political-cultural norms as well as organizational situations and factors has been carried out. The main assumption is that career associates a person and the public sphere, reflects personal self-realization in society, community (career here is understood as personal trajectory to socially important positions in the decision making structure). Politics is analyzed through three axes. First, politics is a social game of legitimacy, influence, and authority. Second, politics is a concrete set of instruments (laws, regulations, unwritten rules, etc.) operating in a society in order to solve conflicts and to secure functioning of communal life. Third, politics is a structure of influences and value orientations in a close personal environment that is always vibrant, dynamic and open. Such politics means efforts, intentions and orientations of a concrete person to self-realize and to consolidate personal position in any concrete environment. In the present study life histories and stories of women from the middle class in the post-soviet Lithuania are being analyzed with an attempt to recognize how they operate in their environment and what are peculiar "feminine" political moves. Recommendations how it could be possible to change the existing situation into more career women favorable direction are provided at the end of the text. ; Kokybinio tyrimo pagrindu (daugiau negu 20 pusiau struktūruotų interviu) atliktoje studijoje gilinamasi į moters karjeros ir politinės aplinkos, politinių-kultūrinių normų bei organizacinių situacijų ir veiksnių tarpusavio sąryšius. Pagrindinė sąvoka - karjera - sieja asmenį su viešąja sfera, išreiškia asmens savirealizaciją visuomenėje, bendruomenėje (karjera čia suvokiama kaip asmens trajektorija į socialiai reikšmingą poziciją visuomenės sprendimų priėmimo struktūroje). Politika nagrinėjama pasitelkus trejetą pjūvių. Pirma, politika kaip galios, teisėtumo/neteisėtumo, autoritetingumo, įtakingumo ir t.t. žaidimas visuomenėje. Antra, politika – tai konkreti sąranga, veikianti visuomenėje ir pateikianti vienokius ar kitokius instrumentus (įstatymus, potvarkius, nerašytas tradicijas ir pan.) konfliktams reguliuoti ir visuomenės funkcionavimui garantuoti. Trečia, politika – tai įtakų, vertybinių orientacijų asmens artimoje socialinėje aplinkoje struktūra, kuri dėl savo politiškumo esmės yra gyva, dinamiška ir atvira. Tokia politika iš esmės reiškia konkretaus asmens įsitvirtinimo ir savirealizacijos konkrečiomis aplinkybėmis pastangas, užmojus, orientyrus, aplinkybes. Pateikiamoje studijoje minimais aspektais nagrinėjamos posovietinės Lietuvos viduriniosios klasės moterų gyvenimo istorijos ir pasakojimai, atkreipiant dėmesį į tokių moterų veikimą savo aplinkoje ir atpažįstant savitą "moteriškų" politinių judesių repertuarą. Pateikiamos rekomendacijos, kaip būtų įmanoma keisti esamą situaciją moters karjerai palankesne kryptimi.
The aim of the article is to analyze the theories and studies of the elites in the Soviet and post-Soviet context. The author grounds the analysis on a view that the studies of political sociology, especially the elitology, depends upon the social context and the political regimes. The author attempts to differentiate the liberal schools in Warsaw and Budapest from the conservative school in Moscow and the periphery of the Soviet Union. She develops her analysis by suggesting that the legacy remains an important part of the practice of scientific enquiry.
