In the end of the year 2003, hundreds of thousands of Georgians went out to the streets in order to protest against the fraudulent presidential elections. Incumbent E.Shevarnadze was forced to resign. This event, called Rose Revolution, raised hope of the end of political chaos and brought a brand new democracy to the World. However, political reforms in the country revealed a different trend. According to the Freedomhouse ratings, Georgia still remains only a partly-free country as before the Revolution. Paradoxically, just a few years after the Roses of democracy were planted to the Georgian soil, the opposition again finds itself in the streets protesting against the lack of democracy. This situation raises a research question why the consequences of the Rose Revolution, which seemed a manifest of democracy in its essence, were so short-lasting. In search for the answer the author of this master thesis argues for an alternative context of analysis and theoretical background which differ from the ones prevailing in the scientific discourse on the issue. Many works rest on the premise that The Rose Revolution was an extraordinary event in the country. One of the main aims of this case study is to prove that it was not unique. Furthermore, taking into consideration "devaluation" of the term revolution in nowadays political science Georgia is worth a diagnosis of entire "revolutionary syndrome" as a similar model of the government change has taken place already a few times during the thirteen years of independence before the Rose Revolution and unsuccessful attempts to repeat it were demonstrated recently. The inquiry reveals that analysis of this phenomenon has to be performed in the context of country's political history. Otherwise, one cannot get a full and deep picture of its causes. It is not enough to refer to ad hoc success criteria of the Rose Revolution but to seek for the institutionalized thinking and behaviour patterns of the political actors which leads to the radicalization of political conflict. This goes as the second aim of this paper. The findings of this study show that the recent stagnation, if not setback, of democratization in Georgia disproves a somehow romantic scientific discourse which sees the Rose Revolution as a victory of democracy against authoritarianism. The Rose Revolution in its essence was not an extraordinary event in country's political context and not a democratic breakthrough. There are some historically formed patterns of political actors' interplay which are favourable for radicalization of political conflict. Firstly, under formally existing multi-party system, a single party permanently dominates in all branches of governance. For this reason political struggle becomes a zero-sum game. Secondly, political parties almost unexceptionally are created and dominated by a single leader. In such situation they become not organizations of political representation but more a projection of personal power and an instrument for its realization. The struggles among such parties are based not on ideological but on personal arguments. In this case, clear guidelines for solving such conflicts and making compromises do not exist. Thirdly, political leaders in Georgia tend to present themselves as apolitical. That is, they claim to represent not the interests of particular groups or ideologies but universal interests which are common to all the citizens. For this reason, a normal pluralism of interests is denied and political opponents are treated as the traitors or state enemies. Finally, a tradition of resistance to the state and bureaucratic hierarchy traces back a few centuries into Georgia's history and has acquired a self-contained value. The vitality of tradition of revolt is proved by using protest as a prevailing means of solving conflicts.
The discussion of the communicational aspects of the freedom of information may be related to the most important traditions of communication research, that is, semiotics and the so-called "process" school. This would enable distinguishing quantitative and qualitative aspects of the freedom of information, and creating a coordinate system for the analysis and evaluation of the attempts to limit the freedom of media. It seems that the dependence on quantitative principles of the freedom of information in a so-called marketplace of ideas undermines the importance of society's qualitative principles of information spread and disturbs the fragile balance between the right to know and the freedom of information. Inevitably, the following question arises: who, in the marketplace of ideas, will guarantee the right of a consumer to receive quality news? Democratic traditions condemn any censorship attempts. Do the changing role of the media and its place in the modern society require the expansion of the concept of the freedom of media? Perhaps, along with concepts such as the freedom of speech and the freedom of information, the discussion should also include considerations about the preservation of the right to know. Since in practice the right to know is usually passive, but the freedom of information is active, the society's right to know is often individualized down to the level of a single person's rights, whereas the freedom of information follows the reverse trend and is most commonly rolled up to a group, party, or corporate level. In this context, the proposed concept of "the freedom of media as an institution" relies on the assumption that the weaker side should be defended. By associating public interest and the quality of media with the right to know, this article aims to show that these two factors are no less important to the functioning of a democratic society than pluralism and diversity, which are directly linked to the freedom of information. The search for the balance between the right to know and the freedom of information is one of the most important issues concerning the functionality of the media, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. ; Aptariant komunikacinius informavimo teisės aspektus, juos galima sieti su svarbiausiomis komunikacijos tyrimo tradicijomis – semiotika ir vadinamąja "proceso" mokykla. Tai leistų skirti kiekybinius ir kokybinius informavimo laisvės principus bei kurti savotišką koordinačių sistemą, kurioje ir analizuojami bei vertinami bandymai riboti žiniasklaidos laisvę. Atrodo, kad, vadinamojoje idėjų rinkoje pasikliaujant kiekybiniais informacijos laisvės principais, sunyksta kokybinių visuomenės informavimo principų svarba, pažeidžiama trapi pusiausvyra tarp teisės žinoti bei laisvės informuoti. Todėl neišvengiamai kyla klausimas, kas idėjų rinkoje laiduos vartotojo teisę gauti kokybiškas žinias. Demokratinė tradicija smerkia bet kokius cenzūros bandymus. Ar kintantis žiniasklaidos vaidmuo ir vieta šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje nereikalauja plėsti žiniasklaidos laisvės sampratos, kalbėti ne tik apie žodžio, informavimo laisvę, bet ir apie teisės žinoti išsaugojimą? Kadangi praktikoje teisė žinoti dažniausiai yra pasyvi, o laisvė informuoti – aktyvi, visuomenės teisė žinoti dažnai individualizuojama iki atskiro asmens teisės, o laisvė informuoti, atvirkščiai, – dažniausiai institucionalizuojama iki grupinės, partinės, korporacinės ir pan. laisvės. Tokiame kontekste siūloma institucinės žiniasklaidos laisvės koncepcija remiasi silpnesniojo gynimo nuo stipresniojo prielaida. Straipsnyje žiniasklaidos kokybę ir viešąjį interesą siejant su teise žinoti siekiama parodyti, kad žiniasklaidos kokybė ir viešasis interesas demokratiniam visuomenėsfunkcionavimui yra ne mažiau svarbūs nei su laisve informuoti tiesiogiai siejamas pliuralizmas ir įvairovė. Pusiausvyros tarp teisės žinoti ir laisvės informuoti paieškos šiandien būtų viena opiausių visų pirma Vidurio ir Rytų Europoje kylančių visaverčio žiniasklaidos gyvavimo problemų.
The dissertation was prepared in 2000–2004 at the Vilnius Pedagogical University and in 2004-2007 at Mykolas Romeris University, The dissertation is defend without PhD studies Scientific supervisor: Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S). The doctoral dissertation will be defended at the Management and Administration Research Council of Mykolas Romeris University: Chairman of the Council: Prof. Habil. Dr. Adolfas Kaziliūnas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Members: Prof. Dr. Eugenijus Chlivickas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jolanta Palidauskaitė (Kaunass University of Technology, Social Science, Sociology 05S) Prof. Dr. Alvydas Pumputis (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law 01S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Opponents: Prof. Habil. Dr. Borisas Melnikas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Vygantas K. Paulikas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) The public defence of the doctoral dissertation will take place at Management and Administration Research Council on 28th December, 2007 at 10 a.m. in the Senate Hall of Mykolas Romeris University (Room C-230). Address: Ateities str. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania The summary of the doctoral dissertation was sent out on 20th November, 2007. The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of the Mykolas Romeris University and Lithuanian National Library of Martynas Mazvydas (Gedimino Av. 51, Vilnius). Introduction In the modern world the mindset of people as well as self-organization factors of various social groups change. Traditional ideologies that used to reflect the thinking of the majority of people in the past are now losing their popularity, and new ideas appear as unlimited pluralism settles in. Sometimes these ideas are old ones that have come from the past. An example would be the idea of communitarianism – some followers claim that this idea should already be called an ideology. When analysing communitarian ideas, most of them may be found in the ideologies of conservatives, Christian democrats, and social utopians or even anarchists–communists." Therefore it is necessary for contemporary man to choose from many strong or weaker ideological attitudes and to solve the dual problem: to identify new values that are often related with one of the segments of the "new public management" – participation of citizens and communities. So one of the traditional values, closely related with the "new public management" when reforming the public sector (especially when talking about self-governance), is considered more often in the Western democratic states nowadays – this value is sociality. Sociality in the democratic world in the context of public administration was and still is considered to be a special value that defines the quality of social organizations, and therefore it is promoted in various ways in the context of creating civil society, and it is one of the factors of modernisation of the public sector. Analysis of local communities from the managerial point of view may be based on the term of subsidiarity (discretion, additionality) that states that what may be done better by a community should not be done by the state. But where the forces of one man or a community are not enough, society and the state should support their efforts according to means. According to the classical definition of subsidiarity, matters that can be handled by individuals on their own should not be taken from them and assigned to the society as in this way justice would be offended. Scientific novelty of the dissertation may be defined by the following statements: • There are no dissertations in the area of public administration that would analyse especially the functionality of local communities, so this attempt to define and analyse the functionality of non-formal local communities of villages and towns allows to expect polemic with works of other authors that analyse the problem of sociality on the whole; • Factors that influence the functionality of contemporary local community have not been grouped and analysed till now; • The definition of factors and actions of local community functionality will enable to expect a faster realisation and implementation of these principles in practice for Lithuania that is developing state and self-governance local administration based on the principles of de-centralisation and subsidiarity; • The problems and directions of creation, development and expansion of local community functionality were analysed thoroughly and systematically, and theoretical and practical recommendations for solving these problems were prepared for the first time in Lithuania; • The concept that defines a functional local community has not been formed. Practical advantage of the dissertation. The actions intended by the author if performed by institutions existing in local communities will enable politicians, public officials and active citizens to draw attention to certain factors that influence the functionality of local communities and to choose certain managerial actions when creating functional local communities. When defining functional local community the author based himself on theoretical material as well as on personal experience because, having worked as a mayor of a regional municipality for five years, he had set the stimulation of mustering people in local communities as one of his strategic goals. From this point of view the dissertation will be useful for praticians because, according to Richard Fenn, the analysis of all subjects, especially the phenomenon of society, requires the researcher to indulge into institutional details – to experience institutions' habits, day-to-day life, successes and misfortunes, as they are experienced by all who live [169, p. 31]. Scientific problem. Lately sociality has been discussed a lot, but there has been no discussion about what it is in local communities, and only one its active form is acknowledged – the existence of a formalised community centre (registered community centres are counted). No attempt is made for local communities in villages and towns to be functional (while that is the basis of self-governance), and no analysis is performed about what its functionality as well as the efficiency of self-governance depends on. The research emphasizes that: • As traditional values of public life are vanishing, the appearing niche is being filled by negative phenomena that make public life more problematic (empirical data collected on alcoholism, neglect of children, criminality); there is discussion about whether this may be resisted by organising citizens into self-organization groups (cultural, charity, youth groups were researched) thus making local communities functional so that they may contribute to the efficiency of public life; • The functionality of villages and towns (that we call local communities) of contemporary Lithuania has withered or manifests itself episodically, while the re-creation of functionality is one of the activity criteria of public institutions and dimensional expression of democratic (real self-governance) management; • It has been noticed that social capital in Western countries is constantly rebuilding itself thus strengthening administrative structures – local government (municipality, eldership) and local institutions (the church, school, cultural institutions, etc.), citizen initiatives, so it should be discussed if functional local community could be one of such links since full-fledged social capital is not functioning yet in our country? The aim of the dissertation is to indicate that systematic managerial actions performed in certain factors may create functional local communities in Lithuanian villages and towns. Goals of the dissertation: 1. to determine factors that influence local community; 2. to define functional local community; 3. to determine the possibilities of institutions existing in local communities to form a functional local community; 4. to plan specific actions and functions of institutions when creating functional local communities; 5. to prepare practical recommendations for interested government institutions, formal and non-formal citizen groups what priority actions should be performed when creating functional local communities. Research object is non-formal local communities of Lithuanian villages and towns, the institution system that creates functional communities. Research subject is functional local communities. Hypotheses: 1. It is presumable that certain factors have a bigger influence on the creation of functional local community. 2. It is presumable that functional local community will start appearing if a system of factors that influence sociality will be formed in institutions of local self-governance (eldership, school, cultural institutions), parishes, and when organising social and physical security in villages and towns. CONTENTS OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Introduction Chapter 1. Analysis of Functionality of Local Communities in the Works of Western and Lithuanian Scientists and in EU Documents. 1.1. Works of Western Scientists and EU Documents about Functionality of Local Communities. 1.2. Works of Lithuanian Scientists on the Functionality of Local Communities. 1.3. Concepts Related to Local Community. 1.4. Conclusions. Chapter 2. Development of Local Communities in Lithuania in the 20th Century. 2.1. Local Communities in Lithuania before World War II. 2.2. The Soviet Period – Interrupted Tradition of Sociality. 2.3. Local Community in Lithuania after the Restoration of Ind
The dissertation was prepared in 2000–2004 at the Vilnius Pedagogical University and in 2004-2007 at Mykolas Romeris University, The dissertation is defend without PhD studies Scientific supervisor: Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S). The doctoral dissertation will be defended at the Management and Administration Research Council of Mykolas Romeris University: Chairman of the Council: Prof. Habil. Dr. Adolfas Kaziliūnas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Members: Prof. Dr. Eugenijus Chlivickas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jolanta Palidauskaitė (Kaunass University of Technology, Social Science, Sociology 05S) Prof. Dr. Alvydas Pumputis (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law 01S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Opponents: Prof. Habil. Dr. Borisas Melnikas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Vygantas K. Paulikas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) The public defence of the doctoral dissertation will take place at Management and Administration Research Council on 28th December, 2007 at 10 a.m. in the Senate Hall of Mykolas Romeris University (Room C-230). Address: Ateities str. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania The summary of the doctoral dissertation was sent out on 20th November, 2007. The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of the Mykolas Romeris University and Lithuanian National Library of Martynas Mazvydas (Gedimino Av. 51, Vilnius). Introduction In the modern world the mindset of people as well as self-organization factors of various social groups change. Traditional ideologies that used to reflect the thinking of the majority of people in the past are now losing their popularity, and new ideas appear as unlimited pluralism settles in. Sometimes these ideas are old ones that have come from the past. An example would be the idea of communitarianism – some followers claim that this idea should already be called an ideology. When analysing communitarian ideas, most of them may be found in the ideologies of conservatives, Christian democrats, and social utopians or even anarchists–communists." Therefore it is necessary for contemporary man to choose from many strong or weaker ideological attitudes and to solve the dual problem: to identify new values that are often related with one of the segments of the "new public management" – participation of citizens and communities. So one of the traditional values, closely related with the "new public management" when reforming the public sector (especially when talking about self-governance), is considered more often in the Western democratic states nowadays – this value is sociality. Sociality in the democratic world in the context of public administration was and still is considered to be a special value that defines the quality of social organizations, and therefore it is promoted in various ways in the context of creating civil society, and it is one of the factors of modernisation of the public sector. Analysis of local communities from the managerial point of view may be based on the term of subsidiarity (discretion, additionality) that states that what may be done better by a community should not be done by the state. But where the forces of one man or a community are not enough, society and the state should support their efforts according to means. According to the classical definition of subsidiarity, matters that can be handled by individuals on their own should not be taken from them and assigned to the society as in this way justice would be offended. Scientific novelty of the dissertation may be defined by the following statements: • There are no dissertations in the area of public administration that would analyse especially the functionality of local communities, so this attempt to define and analyse the functionality of non-formal local communities of villages and towns allows to expect polemic with works of other authors that analyse the problem of sociality on the whole; • Factors that influence the functionality of contemporary local community have not been grouped and analysed till now; • The definition of factors and actions of local community functionality will enable to expect a faster realisation and implementation of these principles in practice for Lithuania that is developing state and self-governance local administration based on the principles of de-centralisation and subsidiarity; • The problems and directions of creation, development and expansion of local community functionality were analysed thoroughly and systematically, and theoretical and practical recommendations for solving these problems were prepared for the first time in Lithuania; • The concept that defines a functional local community has not been formed. Practical advantage of the dissertation. The actions intended by the author if performed by institutions existing in local communities will enable politicians, public officials and active citizens to draw attention to certain factors that influence the functionality of local communities and to choose certain managerial actions when creating functional local communities. When defining functional local community the author based himself on theoretical material as well as on personal experience because, having worked as a mayor of a regional municipality for five years, he had set the stimulation of mustering people in local communities as one of his strategic goals. From this point of view the dissertation will be useful for praticians because, according to Richard Fenn, the analysis of all subjects, especially the phenomenon of society, requires the researcher to indulge into institutional details – to experience institutions' habits, day-to-day life, successes and misfortunes, as they are experienced by all who live [169, p. 31]. Scientific problem. Lately sociality has been discussed a lot, but there has been no discussion about what it is in local communities, and only one its active form is acknowledged – the existence of a formalised community centre (registered community centres are counted). No attempt is made for local communities in villages and towns to be functional (while that is the basis of self-governance), and no analysis is performed about what its functionality as well as the efficiency of self-governance depends on. The research emphasizes that: • As traditional values of public life are vanishing, the appearing niche is being filled by negative phenomena that make public life more problematic (empirical data collected on alcoholism, neglect of children, criminality); there is discussion about whether this may be resisted by organising citizens into self-organization groups (cultural, charity, youth groups were researched) thus making local communities functional so that they may contribute to the efficiency of public life; • The functionality of villages and towns (that we call local communities) of contemporary Lithuania has withered or manifests itself episodically, while the re-creation of functionality is one of the activity criteria of public institutions and dimensional expression of democratic (real self-governance) management; • It has been noticed that social capital in Western countries is constantly rebuilding itself thus strengthening administrative structures – local government (municipality, eldership) and local institutions (the church, school, cultural institutions, etc.), citizen initiatives, so it should be discussed if functional local community could be one of such links since full-fledged social capital is not functioning yet in our country? The aim of the dissertation is to indicate that systematic managerial actions performed in certain factors may create functional local communities in Lithuanian villages and towns. Goals of the dissertation: 1. to determine factors that influence local community; 2. to define functional local community; 3. to determine the possibilities of institutions existing in local communities to form a functional local community; 4. to plan specific actions and functions of institutions when creating functional local communities; 5. to prepare practical recommendations for interested government institutions, formal and non-formal citizen groups what priority actions should be performed when creating functional local communities. Research object is non-formal local communities of Lithuanian villages and towns, the institution system that creates functional communities. Research subject is functional local communities. Hypotheses: 1. It is presumable that certain factors have a bigger influence on the creation of functional local community. 2. It is presumable that functional local community will start appearing if a system of factors that influence sociality will be formed in institutions of local self-governance (eldership, school, cultural institutions), parishes, and when organising social and physical security in villages and towns. CONTENTS OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Introduction Chapter 1. Analysis of Functionality of Local Communities in the Works of Western and Lithuanian Scientists and in EU Documents. 1.1. Works of Western Scientists and EU Documents about Functionality of Local Communities. 1.2. Works of Lithuanian Scientists on the Functionality of Local Communities. 1.3. Concepts Related to Local Community. 1.4. Conclusions. Chapter 2. Development of Local Communities in Lithuania in the 20th Century. 2.1. Local Communities in Lithuania before World War II. 2.2. The Soviet Period – Interrupted Tradition of Sociality. 2.3. Local Community in Lithuania after the Restoration of Ind
