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Civil society is a necessity without which democracy can turn into political technocracy. The neoliberal ideology faces new challenges forcing a rethink underlying the individual and the state and free media and its activity and specificity. We encounter a vivid problem when a group of people who own the media resources have all the tools to shape the public opinion according to their demands. Public commentators become the subjects of public opinion when they analyze the current events. The discourse which is created by these people has suggestibility, subjectivism and ideological style thus creating and having influence on the public opinion. This factor led to more closely analyze the Lithuanian media commentators public discourse in the context of civil initiatives and to evaluate the influence of the discourse of civil society development, based on the principles of liberal democracy. The object of this work is Lithuanian news agencies "Delfi.lt", "15min", "Lrytas.lt", and "lrt.lt" commentator's publications related to the mass initiatives of "supermarket boycott" and "protests against the new Labour Code" which both happened in 2016. The paper examines discreditation of civil initiatives, as one of the attributes of a liberal democracy, in the public space. In order to examine the problem, there are 5 tasks to fallow: (1) to discuss the main features of the collective activities of liberal democracy; (2) to assess the media as a political tool of communication to the public knowledge; (3) to disclosure the selected social initiatives characteristics; (4) to perform selected media portals public commentators publications qualitative discourse analysis, highlighting the main findings; (5) to assess the dominant media portals statements by liberal democratic criteria and assessing the significance of the discourse for civil society. The qualitative discourse analysis method was used for the analyzed problem. A structured interview was also used as a method which helped to disclose and assess the positions of the online media commentators for the relevant civil initiatives. The research revealed that the initiative "supermarket boycott" attempted not only to use its collective action resources to change the market prices but to have solidarity with the most vulnerable social groups as well. Meanwhile the protesters against the new Labour Code were holding a position against the bill thus creating resonance within the society and contributing to the growth of the protest culture in Lithuania. The discourse of the public commentators in the public space assessing the civil and social initiatives opposes the liberal democracy principals where free people meetings (freedom of association) are one of the core ideas of liberal democracy. While having the resources to construct the public opinion, the public commenter's limit the possibilities for other opposing doctrines to appear and act - allowing us to make a conclusion that pluralism is not appreciated. The dominant discourse implies ideas about negative consequences for the liberal and civil society's development.

Civil society is a necessity without which democracy can turn into political technocracy. The neoliberal ideology faces new challenges forcing a rethink underlying the individual and the state and free media and its activity and specificity. We encounter a vivid problem when a group of people who own the media resources have all the tools to shape the public opinion according to their demands. Public commentators become the subjects of public opinion when they analyze the current events. The discourse which is created by these people has suggestibility, subjectivism and ideological style thus creating and having influence on the public opinion. This factor led to more closely analyze the Lithuanian media commentators public discourse in the context of civil initiatives and to evaluate the influence of the discourse of civil society development, based on the principles of liberal democracy. The object of this work is Lithuanian news agencies "Delfi.lt", "15min", "Lrytas.lt", and "lrt.lt" commentator's publications related to the mass initiatives of "supermarket boycott" and "protests against the new Labour Code" which both happened in 2016. The paper examines discreditation of civil initiatives, as one of the attributes of a liberal democracy, in the public space. In order to examine the problem, there are 5 tasks to fallow: (1) to discuss the main features of the collective activities of liberal democracy; (2) to assess the media as a political tool of communication to the public knowledge; (3) to disclosure the selected social initiatives characteristics; (4) to perform selected media portals public commentators publications qualitative discourse analysis, highlighting the main findings; (5) to assess the dominant media portals statements by liberal democratic criteria and assessing the significance of the discourse for civil society. The qualitative discourse analysis method was used for the analyzed problem. A structured interview was also used as a method which helped to disclose and assess the positions of the online media commentators for the relevant civil initiatives. The research revealed that the initiative "supermarket boycott" attempted not only to use its collective action resources to change the market prices but to have solidarity with the most vulnerable social groups as well. Meanwhile the protesters against the new Labour Code were holding a position against the bill thus creating resonance within the society and contributing to the growth of the protest culture in Lithuania. The discourse of the public commentators in the public space assessing the civil and social initiatives opposes the liberal democracy principals where free people meetings (freedom of association) are one of the core ideas of liberal democracy. While having the resources to construct the public opinion, the public commenter's limit the possibilities for other opposing doctrines to appear and act - allowing us to make a conclusion that pluralism is not appreciated. The dominant discourse implies ideas about negative consequences for the liberal and civil society's development.

Civil society is a necessity without which democracy can turn into political technocracy. The neoliberal ideology faces new challenges forcing a rethink underlying the individual and the state and free media and its activity and specificity. We encounter a vivid problem when a group of people who own the media resources have all the tools to shape the public opinion according to their demands. Public commentators become the subjects of public opinion when they analyze the current events. The discourse which is created by these people has suggestibility, subjectivism and ideological style thus creating and having influence on the public opinion. This factor led to more closely analyze the Lithuanian media commentators public discourse in the context of civil initiatives and to evaluate the influence of the discourse of civil society development, based on the principles of liberal democracy. The object of this work is Lithuanian news agencies "Delfi.lt", "15min", "Lrytas.lt", and "lrt.lt" commentator's publications related to the mass initiatives of "supermarket boycott" and "protests against the new Labour Code" which both happened in 2016. The paper examines discreditation of civil initiatives, as one of the attributes of a liberal democracy, in the public space. In order to examine the problem, there are 5 tasks to fallow: (1) to discuss the main features of the collective activities of liberal democracy; (2) to assess the media as a political tool of communication to the public knowledge; (3) to disclosure the selected social initiatives characteristics; (4) to perform selected media portals public commentators publications qualitative discourse analysis, highlighting the main findings; (5) to assess the dominant media portals statements by liberal democratic criteria and assessing the significance of the discourse for civil society. The qualitative discourse analysis method was used for the analyzed problem. A structured interview was also used as a method which helped to disclose and assess the positions of the online media commentators for the relevant civil initiatives. The research revealed that the initiative "supermarket boycott" attempted not only to use its collective action resources to change the market prices but to have solidarity with the most vulnerable social groups as well. Meanwhile the protesters against the new Labour Code were holding a position against the bill thus creating resonance within the society and contributing to the growth of the protest culture in Lithuania. The discourse of the public commentators in the public space assessing the civil and social initiatives opposes the liberal democracy principals where free people meetings (freedom of association) are one of the core ideas of liberal democracy. While having the resources to construct the public opinion, the public commenter's limit the possibilities for other opposing doctrines to appear and act - allowing us to make a conclusion that pluralism is not appreciated. The dominant discourse implies ideas about negative consequences for the liberal and civil society's development.

The concept of deterrence is widely used in social sciences. In general literature this means prevention of someone's actions by threatening to impose sanctions. In the area of strategy, deterrence means preventing states to act in a way that is not acceptable to others. According to deterrence theory, wars or aggressions to be prevented by threatening a potential aggressor with retaliation destructive & credible enough to outweigh any benefit the potential aggressor could expect to gain. The concept of deterrence came to prominence with the appearance of nuclear weapons, precisely because they made it possible for a state under attack to do great harm to the attacker even without really defending itself. This requirement becomes difficult to fulfill when we consider non-nuclear powers. They do not enjoy military capabilities to strike their enemies in retaliation without carrying defense. Nuclear have-not may only threaten her adversaries with a high level of resistance. This articles addresses deterrence strategy of small non-nuclear powers that do not possess retaliatory capabilities but only are capable to threaten their adversaries with a level of destruction higher than the value of objectives sought. The logic of deterrence strategy formulates two main requirements for it to be effective. First is a sufficient capability to carry out the defense actions. The second is ability to impress enemy leaders of their intentions without provoking a preventive or pre-emptive strike out of fear. Effective deterrence strategies of small non-nuclear powers suffer from serious weaknesses that are embedded into the logic of this strategy. First of all, successful deterrence strategy of small non-nuclear powers requires more than ability to impose costs using conventional means. An adversary must be sufficiently convinced that the state will use its defensive capabilities. The greater a state's defensive capability, the less its adversary can hurt it, & the more likely it may use its punitive capabilities on its adversary. Secondly, intelligence communities long have known, policy makers have a way of resisting unwelcome information & advice. Often, national intelligence communities are entirely as culturally blind, not to mention ignorant in other ways, as are their political & military masters. Risk of a mistake when attacking a nonnuclear country is smaller then attacking a nuclear one. When employed by alliances, such as NATO, conventional deterrence also must face a number of additional problems. It requires a large & credible power projection capability because of the simple facts of geography. To operate large expeditionary forces requires an overseas base network & a forcible entry capability. Effective defense demands a large standing force structure, & technological superiority, to assure the success of conventional campaigns. Such complex, capable, & large forces prove to be very costly. Small non-nuclear powers may enhance deterrence using different strategies. Most importantly by making it plain through prior security agreements that aggressors will be severely for punished by the international community, whether or not their invasions are successful. The punishments could be military (including counter-value attacks or asymmetrical threats), political (pariah-state status), & economic (isolation), but they should be certain & tough, even if not perfectly enforced. For example, the European Union may seriously punish aggression from the East using economical measures such as sanctions, boycotts, exclusion from "clubs," etc. Conventional capabilities of small non-nuclear powers is also benefiting from significant improvements in the technology of conventional weapons, notably in accuracy, stealth, intelligence, & information support. Nor does the current theory of conventional deterrence require that conventional weapons be as powerful, destructive, or fearful as nuclear weapons. Growing military strength & asymmetrical capabilities significantly contributes to the psychological credibility of deterrence. Adapted from the source document.