Search

The paper analyses the impact of regulatory policy on the development of sustainable flexible packaging in the food manufacturing industry. Although sustainable packaging is not new on the market, its development still poses various challenges for raw material producers, flexible packaging printers, food manufacturers, and other stakeholders. The study highlights the issues related to the development of sustainable flexible food packaging, the concept of sustainable packaging, and the regulatory policies of the European Union and Lithuania on sustainable flexible packaging. An empirical study was carried out to determine the impact of regulatory policy on the intention of food producers to develop and invest in sustainable flexible packaging. A qualitative research method - semi-structured interviews - was used. The results of the empirical study show that regulatory policy has an impact on the food industry's ambition to develop sustainable flexible packaging, although the effect can be twofold – it can either encourage compliance with the regulatory framework defined by the legislation or burden companies with excessive requirements. In this research, respondents also identified other components that affect the development of sustainable flexible packaging in the food manufacturing industry: consumers and other stakeholders, marketing. The level of environmental awareness was also highlighted as an important factor in the analysis of the empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on soldiers enrolled in permanent compulsory initial military service in Lithuania and analyses their service motivation and attitudes to threats to national security. The article identifies the motives for joining permanent compulsory initial military service and highlights the fact that young people’s choice of permanent compulsory initial military service is most often driven by individual motives. In order to compare the results, representative surveys were conducted in 2018 and 2023. The empirical data suggest that the perception of the main threat to national security identified by troops as an economic threat remained unchanged between 2018 and 2023. However, in 2023, soldiers grew somewhat more aware of the threat of military aggression. In 2018, volunteers differed significantly from conscript forces in their determination to engage in national defense. The expected determination to engage in national defense at a time of an increased military threat did not significantly increase in 2023 compared to 2018; moreover, the attitudes of volunteers and conscripts failed to converge. However, 2023 saw a significant increase in conscripts’ service motivation and an improvement in their assessment of the National Defence Volunteer Forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to find out the rhetoric of Lithuanian presidential candidates during the 2009, 2014 and 2019 election campaigns with respect to Russia and its threat to Lithuania’s national security, as well as how candidates’ rhetoric changed when comparing these three election campaigns. The 2009, 2014 and 2019 elections as the research object were chosen because the 2009 and 2014 elections were held just a few months after the beginning of the Russo-Georgian War in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the war in Donbas in 2014, while the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election took place amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. In order to answer the research question, an analysis of candidates’ election programs and speeches during televised debates broadcasted by the Lithuanian National Broadcaster before all three elections, was performed. Comparative analysis of the election campaigns has shown that there was a significant shift in candidates’ rhetoric regarding Russia, Lithuania’s bilateral relations with Russia, and the assessment of the threat posed by Russia to Lithuania’s national security when comparing the 2009, 2014 and 2019 presidential elections. In 2014 and 2019, unlike in 2009, the majority of candidates began to refer to Russia as an aggressor country that posed a security threat to Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the need for codification of the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania regulating construction. It is noted that the current legislation does not ensure stability and efficiency of the construction process. The construction process is subject to excessive procedural and bureaucratic requirements, and contradictions between the norms of legal acts of different levels can be found. Therefore, the issue of legislative reform is increasingly being raised in the market. Construction law has not been extensively studied in the Lithuanian legal literature so far. Therefore, we consider it necessary to analyze the legal regulation of construction and to review the need for reform on the basis of the good practice of foreign countries. This article discusses the fundamental principles and values that the regulation of construction legal relations must ensure. It assesses how the current legislation ensures the implementation of these principles. The article sets out the challenges for codification, the implementation of which would help to make the legal framework more coherent and clearer, more responsive to developments and reduce financial, human and time costs. It also identifies and analyses the most common challenges to construction regulation in different regions of the European Union. After summarizing the main objectives of the legal framework, three codification alternatives are presented, with different scope and structure of the Code. The analysis presented in the paper is based on an assessment of the functioning of the current legal system and an analysis of best practices in foreign countries. The article is based on the positions of legal scholars and practitioners expressed during scientific and practical conferences (international and national). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research paper is to examine the career prospects of female soldiers in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The article tackles the concept of career and legal regulation of careers in the military. The empirical part of the paper is based on an original survey of female noncommissioned officers’ opinion, which was conducted at the end of 2019 at the command of the Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Iron Wolf". The opinion of female non-commissioned officers showed that the legal basis of career making for all soldiers in the Lithuanian Armed Forces is the same for both women and men, but some of the participants in the study pointed out that this is not sufficiently relevant to pregnant women and women on maternity leave, as, for example, women on maternity leave are often transferred to the personnel reserve, and their positions are filled by other soldiers, etc. The respondents’ opinion on women’s opportunities to pursue a career in the Lithuanian Armed Forces compared to men was divided, as some of the respondents believed that women and men have equal opportunities in all areas of their professional activities, while others stated that opportunities are equal only in administration, service and similar areas. It was found that some female NCOs find it difficult to pursue a vertical military career on equal terms with men, that few female soldiers are in senior positions in the army, in other words, women often face the phenomenon of the ‘glass ceiling’ when pursuing vertical careers. In contrast, there are better opportunities for women soldiers to pursue horizontal careers in the army. Factors that encourage women’s careers in the military include their personal motivation and financial, material and non-material incentives, while those that hinder them include the stereotypes that still exist in the military, the personalities of commanders, the exclusion of women from decision-making processes, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-two EU member states, including Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, oblige some lay participation (lay judges/jury) in the administration of justice. However, the models of this institute differ among countries. Based on the analysis of lay participation models in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, this article aims to point out and describe their advantages and disadvantages. To achieve this aim, qualitative research was carried out. The methods employed for data collection included thematic analysis and document selection. Document content analysis (i.e., the analysis of research papers, scientific literature on the topic, the Constitutions of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, and other international and national legislation) was applied for data processing, and the methods of a dogmatic and comparative analysis were employed for data analysis. The findings of the research disclose that lay judges and jurors are ordinary citizens who work together with legal judges to decide several different types of criminal cases in the Danish and Swedish district and regional courts. Meanwhile, Sweden also has this institute in civil and administrative cases. Finland has only lay judges in criminal cases. This article is divided into four sections: the first section discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the Danish model; the second outlines the Swedish model; and the third describes the Finnish model. The last section compares these models and provides a discussion on the issue. Finally, the article provides conclusions based on the analysis of scientific sources and documents, and the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the introduction of the institute of individual constitutional complaint in the Lithuanian legal system, an additional opportunity arose for individuals to defend violated constitutional rights or freedoms, disputing the constitutionality of the legal regulation of criminal proceedings. Analyzing the practice of individual constitutional complaints regarding the constitutionality of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter – CCP) formed by the Constitutional Court, various reasons for their non-acceptance become apparent. Complaints are usually rejected on the grounds that the petitioners misinterpret the disputed legal regulation, raise the issue of its application rather than constitutionality, or associate the violation of their constitutional rights or freedoms with decisions that are not adopted on the basis of the disputed legal regulation or are not final. This article focuses on the requirement to use all the means of protection of one’s constitutional rights or freedoms established by law before applying to the Constitutional Court. Taking into account that, according to the CCP, certain decisions of a court or pre-trial investigation judge are final and not subject to appeal, this paper seeks to establish whether they are considered as such in the context of constitutional disputes. Although a person is not required to exercise the possibility of reopening a criminal case before filing an individual constitutional complaint, in certain cases decisions adopted in accordance with the legal regulation regulating it must be considered final within the meaning of Law on the Constitutional Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate emotional responses to radical introduction of new tenurebased pay system in Lithuania. The research is focused on the period of time from change initiative introduction to very fist attempts to implement it in organizations. Through qualitative inquiry, this research identified the course and dynamics of emotional states experienced by teachers. The paper is based on proposition that emotional responses should follow the pater outline in Kubler-Ross (Cameron & Green, 2009) model. However, the empirical results showed that teacher's resistance to and rejection of change even increased, due to such factors as high publicity, lack of internal communication, and due to very short implementation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to disclose youth assessment of Lithuanian housing policy. The paper discusses housing policy and the youth housing challenges. The empirical part of the paper is based on the Lithuanian youth original empirical research results "Housing Provision for the Youth in Lithuania: Opportunities and Problems" carried out in 2017-2018. This research was carried out in the framework of the project" Housing Provision for the Youth: Processes, Problems and Solutions in Lithuania (JABS)" (GER 007/17) funded by the Lithuanian Science Council National Research Program "Welfare Society". The results of the survey research revealed that Lithuanian housing policy young people assess rather unfavourably. According to the respondents there is a lack of more active State role and regulation of housing policy, housing policy regulation, more effective action against "shadow" housing rental. Analysis of the research results according to the social demographics characteristics indicated that women are tend to stress more State support for the first housing provision, cash benefits and compensations for housing maintenance. Moreover, 30-35 years old persons indicated more State support for the first housing provision than representatives of the other youth age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to reveal the main features of the right to aca- demic freedom by analyzing theoretical aspects of this concept, some moments of its historical development, related case law, and the Turkish case. The first chapter considers the relationship between the right to academic freedom and the other human rights, its structure, and its place in legal acts. Then, the paper reveals the practical issues regard- ing the right to academic freedom, taking into account the most significant legal inter- pretations of the concept of academic freedom in the form of legal judgments from U.S. and European courts. More precisely, the case law of the U.S. Supreme Court, European Court of Human Rights, and European Court of Justice is relevant in understanding how both sides of Atlantic Ocean understand the right to academic freedom. The third chapter considers the state of academic freedom in the Republic of Turkey. The case of Bogazici University is considered in an attempt to reveal the restrictive conditions of academic freedom in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annual leave is granted to employees in order for them to rest and regain their efficiency at work. Article 49 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania provides that every employed individual has the right to paid annual leave. For this right to be implemented, the employee should be paid for this period of leave. On 1 July 2017, the new Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania came into effect. It not specified, how this right to annual leave should be implemented, but also provided for a new legal term - "leave pay" (lith. atostoginiai). This paper seeks to assess the peculiarities of payment for the annual leave after the reform of Lithuanian labor law taking into account the case law. It analyses component parts of leave pay, the rules of granting, prolonging and transferring of leave, as well as possibility of reimbursement for unused annual leave. This research was conducted using the usual methods for this type of research: systemic and document analysis, linguistic, logical and comparative. The paper takes into account the case law of the European Court of Justice interpreting the provisions of the Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of sustainable development has become a key concept according to which the European Union and other developed countries have been formulating the long term agricultural policy over the past few decades. Applying this theory into practice, the challenges which derive from the integrity of the objectives of sustainable development are being faced. The different achievements of various countries indicate that the effectiveness of sustainable development policy depends not only on how the various levels of institutions manage to reconcile environmental, social and economic objectives but also on whether the system of sustainability assessment immediately signalizes about the lack of implementation of the measures and creates the prerequisites for a timely policy review. This paper, by applying the different models of sustainable development, presents the principles for developing a system of sustainability assessment of agriculture with a focus on the identification of sustainability constraints arising in relation to insufficient reproduction of environmental, human and manmade capital. The system of sustainability assessment of agriculture in this paper is based on the interdependence of environmental, social and economic factors and aims to determine the causes of unsustainable development and allows to define the contribution and need for an intervention of the various levels of institutions in the implementation of sustainable agricultural development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduced here focuses on the particularities of Lithuanian political parties' discourse on European integration. The questions which this paper seeks to answer are: how much ‘Europe’ actually figures into parties' national election manifestos and what parties says about the nature of the European polity and the policy objectives to be implemented by the EU? The results of the analysis show that, although in principle there is a support to the European integration, political parties follow the logic of instrumental rationality containing strategic actions and specific domestic interest implementation in the united Europe. These contradictions may lead to the inconsistencies of party politics toward European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analizes the esential shift in the structure of the economy from industrial to service-dominated economy and the impact of the increasing role of the service sector to the development of economic system and effectiveness of current economic regulation means. Two key theories are dealing with structural changes - deindustrialization theory and postindustrial economy theory. There are distinct research communities providing different perspectives on the rationale, design and delivery of the economic development and economic regulation. The comparative analysis provide an integrative and organising lens for viewing the various contributions to knowledge production from those research communities addressing economic regulation directions and means. The first part of the paper presents a critical assessment of the recomendations to the employment and equality policy makers provided by the deindustrialization theory developing research community. The second part of the paper is devoted for the evaluation of the post-industrial theory perspectives to develop service-dominated economy. This study provides three main trends in economic regulation, which are identified as main accelerators of the economic system evolution, namely: i) creation and maintenance of information-communication infrastructure; ii) servitization of manufacturing and agriculture, and iii) essential reform of educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses waste management policy development applying circular economy model and study its possibilities in Lithuania. The first part of this paper is dedicated to waste management policy concept, its dynamic analysis, circular economy model influence on waste management and waste management tools ident ification. The part of research analyses formation of waste management policy using circle economy in Lithuania. Used qualitative research based analysis of formed Lithuanian waste management policy using circle economy model. Project has found that currently formed waste management policy using circle economy or not targeted and systematic corrections are needed in order to achieve ambitious goals of the model. Identification of corrections and their practical appliance in policy formation would probably not only lead to the achievement of circle economy goals in Lithuania, but also would contribute to the targeted waste management policy formation on national, regional and local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006, the Regulations for Electronic Document Management came into force in Lithuania and started to be applied in the public sector. These regulations define the concept of electronic documents and provide a model for their management. Shortly afterwards, the description of requirements for specifications with regard to electronically signed documents was adopted, and both the first electronic document (equalled to manuscripts) specification, ADOC-V-1, and the electronic document (read by computer) specification MDOC-V-1 were published. Public institutions in Lithuania started implementing document management systems and faced challenges in relation to the application of electronic signatures. The year 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the application of regulations for electronic document management. This article examines the legal regulation of official electronic document management in Lithuania, including the set of formats for such documents. The relationship between official electronic documents and electronically produced ones is also defined. The terms “an electronic document” and “a document in electronic form” are used in Lithuanian legal acts. However, the content of these terms is different, and this raises certain issues with regard to the interpretation and application of legal provisions. The exchange of electronic documents plays an important role in the development of the uniform practice of electronic document management in state and municipal institutions, and in other agencies and enterprises. The specifications for official electronic documents ensure coordination at the level of documents (in terms of their formats). However, in the Lithuanian legal system, the coordination of electronic document forms and the exchange of different formats for official electronic documents is not ensured. This article therefore suggests introducing appropriate changes to legal regulation. Electronic documents enhance the interdisciplinary and inter-institutional nature of archives. There is a need to evaluate the management of these documents by employing theoretical and methodological provisions pertaining to various scientific fields. Electronic documents are to be investigated from the perspective of legal theory, information technologies, and archival science, which includes document management. Aside from paper documents, and video and audio recordings, the national archives started accumulating digital documents - those born digitally and digitalised ones, including information from Internet websites. The aim is to enable the Lithuanian archives to accept storage not only of documents (irrespective of the way they were produced), but also information systems data with a persistent (archival) value. The paper suggests that Lithuanian state archives, as well as the whole area of document and archive management, should be oriented towards a broader activity discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the conceptualization of party patronage. The analysis of the usage of the term party patronage reveals several challenges: scholars from different fields use different definitions of party patronage, in addition same phenomena can be described by different concepts making it difficult to compare data from different surveys or analysis. Furthermore the term itself must be revised continuously as it can become out dated due to changing aspects of party patronage in modern world. To clarify the usage of term party patronage it is important to define contiguous phenomenon such as clientelism, politicization, state capture, pork barrel and corruption. Hence this paper suggests slightly modified conceptualization used by Kopecky et al.: party patronage as power of political parties to make personnel decisions in the public sector for Lithuanian social sciences. Party patronage is defined by three dimensions: who makes the decision, what are the decisions and where those decisions are made? In case of party patronage political parties acts as collective patrons and they make decisions of the personnel matter (hiring, promoting and transferring of public servants) in public sector. This conceptualization enables to show differences between party patronage and contiguous phenomenon. In short clientelism should be understood as an electoral resource of the political party, while party patronage should be understood as an organizational and governmental resource. Concept of politicization is closely connected to party patronage, however politicization is more suitable for public administrative studies as it is directed to the separation of bureaucrats and politicians while party patronage in political science puts attention on the political power of parties to make personal decisions. State capture is defined as systematic influence of business to government in order to obtain favorable legal and regulatory decisions. Pork barrel politics means direction of funding and legislation towards certain constituency or geographical region. Corruption should be understood as abuse of authority and power for personal gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article was prepared on the basis of a paper presented at the scientific conference The Challenges of Changing Society in Criminal Justice, organised by the Mykolas Romeris Law School, Institute of Criminal Law and Process. Commercial secrets are one of the most common ways of protecting, inter alia, both intellectual property objects and commercially valuable information. The moment of commencement of the protection of trade secrets does not relate to the intervention of the authorities or registration. In contrast to patents, the legal regime for trade secrets is more business-aware, de facto requiring no greater requirement than the value of such information to protect trade secrets. Inter alia, these circumstances have led to the widespread use of trade secrets. Trade secrets are governed by the rules of various branches of law: civil (inter alia, labor), administrative and criminal law. Such wide regulation can only be properly applied with a clear distinction between the different types of liability. Unfortunately, Articles 210 and 211 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania are abstract and repeating terms used in other legal acts without qualitatively significant criteria for delimitation. The inadequate legal technique in the area of trade secret protection has resulted in the situation what the application of criminal liability is more dependent on the will of law enforcement officers to qualification like crime or not. Wherefore, it means of criminal law are accordingly superfluous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explain why modern public education initiatives in Lithuania do not deliver on expected results in spite of sufficient investments and government support. The paper focuses on institutional innovation in vocational education - the creation and management of Sectorial Practical Training Centres. Sectoral Practical Training Centres are primarily the instruments of the initial vocational education policy, seeking to improve and adjust the skills of the current and future workforce to the needs of private and public economy sectors. The article is based on proposition that newly created centres would be less exposed to administrative tradition, and should strive to employ modern management ideas, such as transformational leadership and employee empowerment. However, the empirical investigation revealed that there is a big lack of leadership, and managers rely on old-but-good administrative means. The employees stress that there is no support and feedback from management side; staff members do not see prospects for self-realization as well as for creativity and innovations. At the same time, the employees are keen to take more responsibility and to be more engaged in decision-making processes. The article concludes that one of the biggest obstacles for future organizational development is mismatch between current management practices and employees expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By focusing on the application of 6 Sigma this paper analyses the process of human resource management in Vilnius city municipality administration. With increasing requirements to servants and employees of publ ic institutions, the main attention should focus on unnecessary activities and the elimination of wastes. The purpose of article is to analyze the process of human resource management and to identify the criteria which would improve the management of human resources. According to the scientific literature analysis and qualitative research results of Vilnius City Municipality Administration, the article introduces wastes of the human resources management process and gives practical suggestions - how to improve the process of human resources management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governmental promotion of culture philanthropy as a significant issue in culture policy is widely discussed in scientific literature. Many authors (Sulek 2010, Payton, 2000, etc.) argue that, though philanthropy concept has antique origins, at present still there is no comprehensive perception of its full meaning and no well-thought-out definition exists, thus, it is not astonishing that understanding of philanthropy is pretty much embedded in social, cultural and political settings. Culture philanthropy process involves different philanthropy actors - donors, intermediaries and recipients. The paper aims to discuss theoretical and practical aspects of culture philanthropy, using three differents approaches - perceptions by all three groups of actors in culture philanthropy. The paper analyses the concept of philanthropy as well as perceptions of culture policy in Lithuania. Data analysis is dwelling on the findings of the qualitative research conducted in 2014 on culture philanthropy actors' perceptions and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses one of the municipal waste management system component - municipal biodegradable waste and evaluates its management's efficiency in Kaunas City Municipality. The first part of this paper is devoted to the waste management concept dynamics analysis, public government evaluation criteria and its methods identification, especially focusing on efficiency. The part of research evaluates the efficiency of the municipal biodegradable waste management system in 2013 which is ruled by Kaunas City Municipality. The main research object is an infrastructure of technical equipment of municipal biodegradable waste management system. Efficiency is valued using cost-effectiveness method. The study established that the currently existing system of municipal biodegradable waste management system is ineffective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1928-1931, annual consumption of legal pure alcohol per capita was just 1.17 litres, while in 2014 the alcohol consumption per capita was 12.7 litres. The alcohol outlet density is one of the most significant factors for the indicators of alcohol consumption. The aim of this paper is to compare the characteristics of the regulation of retail alcohol outlets in the First (1918-1940) and Second (1990-2015) Republic of Lithuania. The goals are the following: to evaluate the aspects of alcohol outlet density, expiration dates and issue conditions of seller licences, and the maintenance of public order of seller licence usage as well as assurance of safety in the neighbourhoods, and to determine the period of Seimas (governing parties) ruling during which fundamental changes occurred in the liberalization or prohibition with regards to regulation of alcohol outlets. The paper is based on the method of document analysis. It was determined that the regulation of alcohol outlets was much stricter in the period of the First Republic of Lithuania than in the period of the Second Republic. In the First Republic of Lithuania, the regulation of the density of alcohol outlets was connected to the assurance of public safety and prevention of noise, the community was involved in the regulation of the density of alcohol outlets, the density of alcohol outlets was regulated, the prohibited distances were defined between alcohol outlets and places of worship, cemeteries, healthcare and education establishments or other institutions significant to the public, the issued licences were short-term, for the period of one year. Even though in the period of the ruling of Antanas Smetona in 1934 the alcohol outlet regulation was liberalized, eliminating the influence of residents and municipalities on the issuing of licences, alcohol outlet regulation still remained stricter than in the period of the Second Republic of Lithuania. In 2002, the social-democratic coalition, which had the majority in the government, strongly liberalized the alcohol outlet regulation: it abolished any regulation of alcohol outlet density, eliminated short-term licences and authorised alcohol sales in sanatoriums, kiosks and petrol stations. Only the political group of Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian democrats, which had the majority in the Seimas of 2008-2012, managed to prohibit sales in kiosks and petrol stations, but the density remained unregulated, the licences were still short-term, the licencing was unconnected to public safety and assurance of public order, and the community's influence was restricted only to expression of opinion on the issuing of new alcohol seller licences in the blocks of flats they reside in. It is recommended to connect alcohol outlet regulation with public safety and assurance of public order, to regulate outlet density, to issue short-term licences, and to empower the residents to participate in the alcohol outlet regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the gaps in national law in preventing repetitive violence and adopting a general strategy for the prevention of violence against women. The national legislation of the Republic of Lithuania is evaluated in relation to international law in the area of gender-based and domestic violence. Notably, Lithuania is a party to the corresponding international documents in this area. However, the national legislation at the level of laws and regulations lacks links with international law and relevant documents. The basic preventive measures are very broad and are not targeted at the elimination of violence against women; instead, they seek to decrease the numbers of crimes in the area of domestic violence. The most relevant sectors for prevention, i.e. the health care sector and the education sector, are not involved. The objectives of prevention are not placed within the gender equality paradigm, and violence against women is not seen as being connected with stereotypes and discrimination. In addition, gaps are identified in the prevention of repeated violence against women. The paper suggests that the system of protective orders should be reformed so that protective orders are available to all victims of violence and not limited to domestic violence victims. Both civil and criminal protection measures should exist, and they should be applicable to post-trial victims as well. It is also recommended that the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which is the most thorough document on prevention, be ratified. Ratification would improve the weakest point in Lithuanian legislation on violence against women - the prevention of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is focused on the discussion about the role of nongovernmental organizations during the decisionmaking process in local governance and what factors influence it. To achieve this, the following steps have been made: first, the concept of nongovernmental organizations and their relationship with civil society was analyzed, then possible variations of relationship between nongovernmental organizations and their impact to the public sector was described. In the last part of the paper, the stages of the decision-making and implementation process in the municipality were analyzed and theoretical aspects of enabling NGOs were discussed. The analyses showed that the decisionmaking and implementation processes depend on the understanding of the need to cooperate, the ability of both subjects to work together, their relationship with citizens and other interest groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents public services consumers satisfaction index methodology application in Lithuania. First part od the paper is devoted to the analysis of the public services concept, theoretical and legal aspects of public services. Survey research is based on the public services consumers satisfaction methodology created in 2010. Results of the survey research carried out in Kaunas city municipality in 2013 were presented. Empirical basis of the research is based on 1832 Kaunas city inhabitants. Empirical research is based on 203 primary indicators. Out of 203 primary indicators using factor validity 8 scales, reflecting different types of public services were created. As a result created public services rating in Kaunas city and consumers satisfaction by public services map in Kaunas city administrative units. The research results revealed that the most positively evaluated cultural and educational, the less - territorial care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research of citizen satisfaction in public services gained new relevance in Lithuania in 2009, when the Ministry of Interior added the assessment of customer satisfaction in public services as an instrument of public management quality policy. The paper seeks to answer how this top-down initiative is applied in practice and what kinds of problems arise. The object of analysis in the paper are two independent researches related to the assessment of satisfaction in public services, which were conducted in Kaunas in 2013 and produced markedly different results. The paper is based on the case of the assessment of the Customer Satisfaction Index of Kaunas City Centre of Social Services (CSS), which aims to uncover the factors that determined the disparity in the results. The analysis of the calculation methods for the satisfaction index of the services provided by the CSS has revealed that the methodology approved by the Lithuanian Minister of the Interior can be utilized at the municipal level for the satisfaction in general services used by the majority of city residents. The municipalities, which conduct centralized assessment of public services and wish to ensure objectivity must control that the satisfaction index indicator includes only the customers who have used the service. However, in this case one would face increased financial costs, which rise due to the process of ensuring the involvement of customers who have used services provided by separate institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many research papers on local self-government from 1990s till present in Lithuania. However, according to the author, there is a lack of research papers where the Lithuanian local self-government system would be analysed systematically. The author has published several articles in the academic journal Public Policy and Administration. In this article, the author, by way of creative analogy, presents his approach as to who is granted the right to (local) self-government and who enjoys this right (i.e., what is the subject of the right to (local) self-government) as well as explains who, in his opinion, enforces the right to (local) self-government and how. Summarizing the results, the author presents the following conclusions: 1. Interpreting the first paragraph of Article 119 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania "The right to self-government shall be guaranteed to administrative units of the territory of the State, which are provided for by law. It shall be implemented through corresponding municipal councils", the following questions remain unanswered: what subject is guaranteed (granted) the right to (local) self-government? Is a municipal council really the only local authority through which the right to (local) self-government is implemented? 2. The systematic analysis of provisions on guaranteeing (granting) and implementing the right to (local) self-government, established in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, rulings and decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Lithuania Law on Local Self-Government, and the European Charter of Local Self-Government, suggests that: (a) three subjects may be considered as the subjects of the right to (local) self-government in Lithuania; (b) the developers of the constitutional doctrine of (local) self-government chose the territorial (local) community as the subject of the right to (local) self-government by applying analogy (the Constitution stipulates that sovereignty belongs to the Nation); (c) by making the subject of the right to (local) self-government equal to the Nation State (sovereign that has the supreme power in the state), the developers of the doctrine applied the analogy in respect of the implementation of the right to (local) selfgovernment: they essentially saw the implementation of the right to (local) self-government and exercise of the supreme power in the municipality as the same, the latter being exercised through the representative municipal (self-government) institution. 3. It is stated that in Lithuania, which belongs to the countries with the continental legal system and where the theory of dual local self-government is followed for interpreting the origin of local municipalities and the nature and content of local self-government, the right to independently deal with local matters (or otherwise, right to (local) self-government in a wider sense) is guaranteed (granted) to the local municipality, an organised territorial social body that is composed of permanent residents in a territorial administrative unit established by law, that has the status of a public legal person and that has the competence established (defined) by the state. 4. Guaranteeing (granting) the right to self-government to the residents of the territorial administrative unit is a process lasting for a defined time rather than a single action of the state. During the process, major qualitative changes take place in the life of residents (to be accurate, in their communication and their governing) of the territorial administrative unit, and some decisions adopted and actions taken on the national level give shape to a territorial, organised social body (local municipality) that has a legal status and the competence defined by the state. 5. Creatively applying the analogy, it may be asserted that: a) the right to self-government (right to (local) self-government in a broader sense) belonging to a local municipality is the right of a territorial organised community (local municipality) and the real power to exist (act) as a legally independent, self-governing and autonomous social body; in this case, the subject of the right to (local) self-government (in a broader sense) is a local municipality, and (b) the right to self-government (right to (local) self-government in a narrower sense) belonging to a municipal community is the right of a municipal community as of a special local municipal structural element to directly or through a municipal council (representative body of a local municipality) exercise, in the ways prescribed, the supreme power in the local municipality when dealing with local (public) matters within the competence of the local municipality; in this case, the subject of the right to (local) self-government (in a narrower sense ) is a municipal community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides an overview of Lithuanian State Department activities in implementing competency models in Lithuanian public service. Based on the national strategic documents the project was initiated to implement competency models. The paper presents the factors and circumstances of the competency model implementation, as well as reasoned assumptions of creating such a model. The perspective of various possibilities of the competency model application in different human resources management areas is presented. A gradual transition from the traditional to the competency -based human resource management in Lithuania's civil service is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the issues of the need and opportunities for informal (thoughtful, reasonable, creative) application of the criminal law. The problem is closely related to the legal discussion on the limits of discretion of the judge in the interpretation and application of laws. The author expresses the opinion that despite the fact that the influence of legal positivism on criminal justice is stronger than on civil one, but even in a criminal case the judge does not have to be completely restrained by the letter of law. The paper justifies the need for an informal application of the criminal law, discusses the legal doctrines that allow it to do so. Beyond doubt, the compliance with the letter of law is a desirable standard in criminal justice. Nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege (no crime and punishment without law) principle is a fundamental basis of criminal law, which protects citizens from arbitrary prosecution and brings clarity to what is a crime in society and what legal consequences are foreseen to the offender. However, the need for informal application of the criminal law actually exists. The main objective reason for informal justice is eternal incompleteness of law, limited opportunities of written rules, diversity of life, which never fits into dry definitions. Even the criminal law always risks falling behind changing realities, not to respond in time to changes, misunderstand them, create uncertainty and conflicts of values. The subjective reason for informal application of criminal law is surplus, clarity and consistency strapped legislation, which often produces irrational, abstract and limitless definitions of particular crimes. These definitions later become the means to formulate excess criminal charges for minor infringements and artificially criminalize relations regulated by other branches of law (tax, administrative, civil, etc.). So, the need of informal application of the criminal law is primarily related with the need to avoid artificial criminalization and absurd criminal convictions. The author distinguishes the following working legal instruments allowing informally apply the criminal law: 1) expansive and narrowing interpretation of criminal law; 2) the concept of dangerousness of criminal act; 3) the general legal principle of proportionality and the principle of criminal law as a last resort (lat. ultima ratio); 4) the maxim of human rights protection. The paper illustrates the effectiveness of these concepts with concrete examples of court practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many authors, in order to help promoting effective public administration solutions, recently began investigating shadow economy and its psychosocial factors. It is argued that positive attidudes towards shadow economy could be related to high social economic in equality. This study aimed at identifying attitudes towards shadow economy and population‘s behaviors with a special focus on differences in different income groups. This paper presents some results of the survey (n=1001). The results revealed no statistically significant differences in different income quintiles groups and different subjective socio-economic status groups. Authors indicate that additional research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to reveal the efficiency of the activities of institutions controlling the monitoring of compliance with legal regulation of ethical principles of civil servants and compliance with “Law on the coordination of public and private interests in civil service”. The paper analyzes the concept of conflict of interest, legal management provisions of conflict of interest and mechanism for implementation monitoring of its enforcement, which is enshrined in Lithuanian legal acts. The article reveals data obtained from qualitative research that reflects the aspects of the activities of the institutions responsible for supervision and control of the implementation of the provisions of the Law on the coordination of public and private interests in the civil service. It is concluded that the legal regulation of conflict of interest creates preconditions for assurance of implementation of ethical principles, however lacks clarity and consistency in some cases. The absence of clear criteria for legal regulation of activity, effectiveness and results' evaluation of institutions responsible for monitoring compliance with provisions of the law, passivity of heads of local government institutions does not allow to achieve real progress in combating conflicts of interest and corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adapting information and communication technologies (ICTs) to countries' development is one of the important criteria for economic and social progress and public policy priorities. However, implementing this ambitious concept faces social inequalities in the use of ICT, or digital exclusion. Lithuania has several decades of experience in utilizing the potential of ICT in managing strategic initiatives. Studies on the development of information society and digital exclusion show that attention is being focused on reducing the digital exclusion, but there is a lack of detailed analysis of the measures applied, the results achieved, the impact on specific social risk groups. The aim of the paper is to assess the strategic priorities and specific measures in Lithuania for reducing digital exclusion. The state approach to the digital exclusion is explored through qualitative and quantitative analysis of document content, which allows focusing only on the issue of digital exclusion reflected in them. The sources of this research data are Lithuanian strategic information policy documents. The most visible and consistent solution to the digital exclusion in Lithuania is the physical availability of ICTs in the regions. Significantly less is the problem of the digital exclusion associated with motivation, ability, and opportunities to benefit from ICT disparities. The priorities and directions of the Government and non-governmental organizations are very different in this area. In spite of the high level of gaps in the data found on analyzing the results and achievements of government-EU NGO programs and projects, the research presents some insights for future digital exclusion reduction programs and projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the concept of a family member in criminal cases of violence in a close environment. The main objective of the analysis was to determine the scope of this concept as applied in national case law, while determining the qualifying element of a crime against human life and health (Chapters XVII and XVIII of the Penal Code). The subject-matter of the research was limited to the most problematic aspects as follows: 1) de facto partnership; 2) spouses; 3) former close relationship; 4) and some other relationship. Sixty decisions of national courts were used for the analysis to determine whether consistent case law for interpreting the concept of a family member ad hoc is adequate for the effective application of this concept, and whether adjustments pertaining to its legal regulation are also necessary. The results of the research lead to the conclusion that interpretation of the concept by making references to Art. 248.2 of the Penal Code (Chapter XXXIV), or Art. 38 of the Criminal Procedure Code, or definitions provided in the Civil Code or special Law on Protection Against Violence in a Close Environment is not consistent with the principle nullum crimen sine lege stricta. Therefore, in order to ensure the appropriate protection of victims of crime and adequate qualification of crimes, it is necessary to include the definition of the family member in Chapters XVII and XVIII of the Penal Code. In the case of actual partnership and spouses living separately, the Lithuanian courts essentially adequately interpret the concept of the family, applying it consistently to both de facto and de jure relations. However, according to the provisions of international law, the jurisprudence of the ECtHR, the doctrine of domestic violence, the attributes of family relationships should be valued using their broad concept and should not be confused with the manifestations of lifestyle or specificity of domestic violence. Based on the nature of marital legal relations, the provisions of the Penal Code and international normative acts, the doctrine of domestic violence and the case law of the Constitutional Court and ECtHR, marriage should be seen as ipso jure substantiating the family relationship. In the cases concerning former close relationships, the courts follow the precedents interpreting the concept of a family member, although these criteria are not fully adequate in this case. Given the specifics of domestic violence and the fact that, even if the actual relationship is broken, certain legal family relationships still remain, and the concept of the family should apply to former spouses or partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most notably, compatibility of public and private interests is apart of a sustainable civil and legal society. However, it is still a controversial issue, especially in the unique regulation of bank insolvency proceedings. On the one hand, in the modern legal scientific field it is argued that the state cannot protect only certain social groups or only certain specific interests of individuals. But on the other hand, the question arises whether only the interests of the individual are important to the state, or are there some exceptional collective, general public interests? Bank insolvency cases (e.g., bank "Snoras" and bank "Ūkio bankas") subsequently have undergone dramatic changes in Lithuanian law system and it is still a very sensitive social issue. This paper tries to achieve analysis of the interference between the private and public interests which affect in the bank liquidation proceedings. The article considers under the private law a few resonance issues caused by public and private interaction and their consistency under the Lithuanian legal framework of bank liquidation proceedings. The basic object of the paper is the compatibility of private and public interests in bank liquidation proceedings under the Lithuanian law. The research problem is as follows: does the regulation in Lithuania proper balancing public and private interests under bank liquidation proceedings? While the definition of bank liquidation has never been provided in the scientific field of Lithuania, this paper inter alia suggests a term of bank liquidation. With the purpose to explore the actual meaning of legal norms and legislations as well as content and to analyze the literature, the systematic and document analyses, synthesis, comparative, critical thought methods were used. The statements are derived from analyses of scientific literature, relevant legislation, the practice of the courts and relevant reports. The paper is written from the perspective of the Lithuanian law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the right to choose law applicable to individual employment contracts under Regulation Rome I that replaced the 1980 Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations is discussed. The short evolution of the European choice-of-law rules for employment contracts and principle of parties' autonomy is revealed. The Regulation Rome I implementation practices as well as expression of such choice and cases of limitations are analysed in the paper, as well. The following questions that arise from provisions on the law applicable to the employment contracts and a wide scope of application of Rome I Regulation are discussed: 1) Do the parties to the employment contract may choose applicable law of any State?; 2) Is it necessary to have a connection between the contract and the State whose law the parties have chosen to apply?; 3) Is there a need of foreign element in the relationship when choosing other State's law and should it be seen as a foreign element in terms of the Rome I Regulation?; 4) Is the choice of the parties limited to only State law or may it include non-state provisions as well? Practical situations arising from the abovementioned questions are presented in the paper, too. After analysing individual national laws, case law and doctrine, two types of the interpretation of the principle of autonomy are presented: 1) the first type (which is used in Lithuania and many other European countries), where the parties are completely free and may choose the applicable law, irrespective of the fact that contractual relationship is related to only one state and the fact that the state whose law is chosen by the parties, has no connection with the employment contract; and 2) the second type (which is used in Poland, Germany), where the parties may exercise the freedom of choice of the contractual relationship only when there is an objective connection with the state which law is chosen. Finally, some states provide that the parties may choose only law of a particular state. However, it is stressed that parties to an employment contract are free to agree on any law to the extent that the agreement improves upon the mandatory minimum standard of protection set by the objectively applicable law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to dispute the importance of qualitative approach in the research of public services. The paper analyzes theoretical and methodological fundamentals of public services research. The need for the development of qualitative tools is substantiated by revealing the core problems of organizing and evaluating public service delivery as well as theoretical dimensions of service-dominant logic. The first part of the paper examines public services research in Lithuania. The second part deals with indicators, disturbances and limitations of the evaluation of public services. Factors that should be analyzed toward service-dominant approach are discussed in the third chapter, and the importance of qualitative tools is motivated in the last one. This article is not intended to be anti-quantitative, but it draws inference that it is advisable to combine the elements of quantitative methodology and qualitative approach. It is stated that qualitative analysis allows a comprehensive understanding on links of the processes and factors that determine the problems of public service delivery, while quantitative tools usually show the existence of such problems. The paper also stresses potentialities of qualitative approach on tempering interactions among all the parties concerned with public service delivery, as such interactions tend to be the main contributors of public sector's competitiveness in a contemporary era of hybrid settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many research papers on local self-government since 1990s till present in Lithuania. However, according to the author, there is a lack of research papers where the dynamic (changing) Lithuanian local self-government system would be analyzed systematically (i.e., not just a separate aspect (element), but the entire local self-government system consisting of separate and linked together aspects (elements)). The author has published several articles in the academic journal "Public Policy and Administration". In this article, the author presents an opinion and judgment based on more than twenty years' worth of gathered knowledge about aspects of local self-government system, such as system of administrative-territorial units, the national and international legal acts regulating local self-government, the main definitions -- local municipality and local authority -- as well as their development throughout the period of 1990 till present and the like. The aim of this article is to continue the systematical research of Lithuanian local self-government system during the twenty three years (1990-2013) and determine other important aspects (elements) of local self-government system, which are largely discussed about in theory and practice -- competence of municipality and it's development during the period since 1990 till present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global inter-urban competition, attractiveness of a city for activity of individuals and organizations becomes one of the major preconditions for its success. City centre as a spece most intensively used by city members and guests has a particular importance: its functionality, attractiveness, specific atmosphere-magnetism and other characteristcs influence the decisions of people on where to live, work or recreate. Though during centuries city centres were concentrations of power and resources, in the last decades they lost their former role, functions and resources and often are described as places affected by severe, complex problems. City centres with their history, culture and human resources are important asset of the nation, which has to be cherished and developed. Authors of the paper refer to the findings of researchers representing different disciplines, which have analysed problems of the city centres. The paper discusses development processes characteristic to contemporary city centres and possibilities to manage the processes in the urban development policy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good state image ensures smooth integration into global market and international political system, helps to attract more foreign direct investments, tourists. It secures that country will gain the support of foreign countries and international organizations in solving various economic, political and security issues. In XXI century even small states are used to set a strategic goal of image forming in their national strategies and achieve this goal by using public diplomacy and nation branding. This paper aims to analyze the issues of contemprorary small states image forming by using public diplomacy and developing nation brand. Also main problems of Lithuania image forming are identified on the basis of comparative analysis of the cases of Lithuania, Estonia, Finland. The paper also contains the model of image forming and development of public diplomacy for Lithuania which was created on the basis of the comparative analysis of these three cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. Recently, the banking industry has faced considerable challenges in Lithuania. Two banksfaced insolvency almost in a year's time. These cases subsequently have undergone dramatic changes in society, which now has a new legal viewpoint. Resolution and the bail-out of failing banks have an impact on the perceived credit risk as well as the financial soundness and the solvency of banks. Besides, they lead to many legal issues, which should be investigated at a scientific level. Regarding bank insolvency proceedings, essentially there are two options: direct liquidation (bank bankruptcy) or bank resolution (different legal techniques of restructuring). The main objective of bank restructuring is to restore individual banks or their solvency, merge, sell, or recapitalize banks, recover assets, operations and procedures. On the other hand, the main objectives of bank liquidation are to reduce creditors 'losses and to eliminate insolvent banks from the market under the regular insolvency procedures. The main objective of the paper is to analyze bank resolution methods from the perspective of Lithuanian law. Bank insolvency law is not analyzed and investigated essentially in the Lithuania's scientific field. Two issues are analyzed in this paper: legal options and legal mechanisms of bank resolution and, on top of that, effects of implementing bank resolution tools. Resolution tools are interconnected with recent Lithuanian bank insolvency cases and based on their practice. The main aim of the article is to analyze, investigate and expose bank resolution techniques according to the Lithuanian law system. The statements are derived from analyses of scientific literature, relevant legislation, practice of the courts and relevant reports. The paper is written from the perspective of Lithuanian law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an overview and an analysis of literature related to specificity of university marketing, possibilities for market segmentation and main prerequisites for effective marketing strategy formulation. It is concluded that traditional marketing tools and principles are not immediately applicable to respond to the needs of higher education institutions, because they are based on seller-consumer models. The role of higher education institutions should be conceptualized through models of partnership and cooperation. It is also important for institutions of higher education to be able to identify the needs of various student sub-groups and respond to those needs via differentiated marketing strategies. The paper proposes to apply target marketing tools, as they do not require increases in expenditures. Equally, it is important to note that marketing in higher education is a profoundly complex process, which needs careful formulation and evaluation, including selection of appropriate evaluation indicators. Only by taking into account all these considerations can an institution of higher education expect to achieve its marketing goals, satisfaction of its stakeholders and their meaningful feedback. Well formulated marketing strategies play an important role in the process of quality assurance, achievement of institutional goals and modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the status of attorneyship as one of the state-controlled legal professions. It should be noted that although the public recognizes the importance of lawyer's assistance, in the cultural context lawyer is one of the most ridiculed and criticized legal professions. Such assessment of attorneyship depends on the controversial nature of this legal profession, i.e. first, the lawyer uses his profession to earn income for himself, his family and his business; second, the lawyer is obliged to unconditionally pursue his client's interests to a widest extent possible; and third, the lawyer is one of those participating in the justice implementation and, as a result, is the subject to higher standards of behaviour, normally associated with both formal legal requirements and ethical requirements. The lawyer's personal interest is mostly in line with his commitment to act exclusively for the benefit of the client, because protection of the client's interests determines the lawyer's reputation and income. However, obligations of the lawyer, as the justice implementation participant, often force the lawyer to act otherwise than they would normally act in order to benefit their client. At this date, the controversial nature of attorneyship in Lithuania has yet not reached the level of doctrinal debate; therefore, it is difficult to assess what theoretical models could be considered appropriate when solving this problem. Such divergence leads to the demand that attorneyship would be controlled by external means. The general external control over attorneyship may be exercised by both lawyers' professional association (the judicial control over attorneyship in a particular case is not addressed in this article). The paper provides points proving that attorneyship is Lithuania's least state-controlled profession as compared to other similar professions, e.g. bailiff or notary. The Lithuanian Bar Association bears the primary responsibility for lawyers' ethical performance. After assessing the published data on the Lithuanian Bar Association activities, it can be stated that the control provided is insufficient, often identifying and responding to formal violations, such as non-payment of contributions and failure to submit the public liability insurance policy. There is no evidence that the Lithuanian Bar Association has a clear position concerning the lawyers' ethics and expresses it in such a way that no lawyer could question assessment of behaviour non-compliant with ethical principles. Even more questions arise in the light of the latest trends. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania asked the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in determining whether in certain cases the lawyer, providing legal services to an individual, should be recognized as a business person, his client as a consumer, and the legal aid contract as a consumer contract. At the same time, a legal prerequisite for the lawyer advertising has been created in Lithuania, which had been strictly prohibited until recently. There are grounds for believing that the lawyer will be viewed more as a business person than as a person involved in the justice implementation process. As a result, the extent of ethical requirements to the lawyer may change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses upon cognitive-psychological phenomena leading judge's decision making. According to general law presumptions, the judge tries the case in the most possible objective and rational way, considering all necessary data and law and in this way providing the only best decision. During the last four decades, psychological studies have given a good basis to cast these presumptions in doubt. It has been shown that the judge often takes his decisions using not exact, but intuitive decision algorithms (heuristics) and uses only a part of all data that would have been indispensable for a really perfect decision. Especially important is demonstration of a hidden way, in which such intuitive decision algorithms work. Such an algorithm functions without any control of consciousness and acts in a spontaneous way. his makes them a channel for judge's uncontrolled subjectivity and brings diversity of judge's decisions in identical cases. The paper reviews the main stages of the trial and discusses intuitive decision algorithms used on each of them. heir impact on judge's decisions is discussed, as well. The principal intuitive decision algorithms used by judges have been discussed. he most important ones, most often and deeply affecting judge's decisions are conformation bias, availability and anchoring algorithms. The impact of the use of these algorithms upon decisions of judges is demonstrated. he main consequences of the use of discussed intuitive decision algorithms are diversity of the ways and outcomes in decisions of different judges in identical situations. he analysis of psychological experiments carried out in different countries has shown that the effect of this factor on judging is considerable, which violates one of the most important legal principles -- principle of uniformity, demanding similar decisions in similar cases. Especially, an important discovery is the dependence of the relative frequency of the use of intuitive algorithms on different psychological states of the judge's mind, especially his mood. Based upon related publications, it is shown that the methods should be sought that could support judges in making more objective decisions and preventing them from any unwanted impact of heuristics algorithms. The obstacles and problems in arranging such a support are discussed in the paper. The most important of this seems to be the unconscious functioning of the intuitive algorithms -- their impact is often of covered nature and any judge's attempt to realize them meets problems. This explains failure of attempts to support judges by simple information on intuitive algorithms and their impact upon judge's decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the relevant issue of the relationship of international law and European Union law. Therefore, independent systems of law exist, which inevitably arise the issue of relationship and interaction of these systems. Legal literature analyses the question of the relationship of these two systems of law on the basis of various aspects. The author has chosen the following structure of the paper: first, the general problem of the relationship of international and European Union law is discussed. While describing the problem, the nature of the European Union and international law, as well as the distinguishing features of these systems of law, is analysed. The paper also provides a discussion about the decisions of the Strasbourg court and the Court of Justice of the European Union, which provide the basis of solving the problem of the relationship of these systems of law. In the second part of this paper, the main theories are analysed: the monistic, dualistic and coordination theories, which can be used to answer the issue of interaction of the two systems of law -- international law and European Union law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the need of freedom is definite, the concept of individual freedom, while being interpreted with legal terms, causes not only theoretical, but also practical problems. The observed two extremes of freedom are defined as any human self-expression as well as the license, where the state power is generally attributed to disregard personal freedom. In this article the freedom of expression and state enforcement jurisdiction dichotomy are addressed by discussing positive and negative conceptions of freedom and the relationship between the interpretations of political liberalism and Kant and Hegel's philosophies. This paper aims to prove that the positive liberty is the assumption of the negative liberty. The paper based on Hegel's philosophy shows that freedom is the characteristic of human nature to seek identity. It is also argued that human identity can take many forms and, therefore, a person has a number of inherent rights and liberties. It is human psycho-physical identity that provides the right to life and health care; human creative identity, providing the right to privacy and freedom of occupation; human moral identity, which provides the right of dignity, and the moral autonomy of person's social and political identity, providing the political and social rights and freedoms. This article concludes that while a person uses the given rights with integrity and the state is limiting people's arbitrariness, there is no conflict between the freedom and state violation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the problem of criminal liability for unlawful engagement in economic activities, analyses the emergence and development of this norm in criminal law and the ways of its optimal explanation. Special attention is paid to the problem of identification of illegality of activities, based on specific tax and economic regulation. The study concludes that criminal liability must be limited to a violation of fundamental requirements for the legality of business, and does not include particular abuses occurring in legal business. The author also deals with the criteria of delimitation of criminal and administrative liability for unlawful engagement in economic activities. Under Article 202(1) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, application of criminal liability is limited by two alternative conditions: either a person illegally undertakes activity in entrepreneurial way or on a large scale. According to the paper, the above-mentioned regulation lacks clarity and leads to the risk of unfounded prosecutions. The author gives practical examples, where on the basis of inexplicable criterion of an entrepreneurial way, criminal charges are filed in respect of petty economic activities. Such practice is incompatible with the purposes and principles of criminal law. The paper proposes to delete the criterion of an entrepreneurial way from the definition, leaving the possibility of criminal liability only in case of large scale illegal economic activity. The article also substantiates the conclusion that prohibited business activities provided for in Article 202(2) of the Criminal Code actually defies logical explanation and should be removed from the regulation. At the end of the article, the author offers a sample of optimal legal wording of unlawful engagement in economic activities in criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the framework of national legal regulation on the assessment of victims of violence in close environment to identify specific protection needs. The main objective of the analysis was to assess the adequacy of compliance with the constitutional requirements and standards of the Victims' Rights Directive. The provisions of this Directive have been transposed into national law by amending the Criminal Procedure Code and adopting a new post-legislative legal act by the prosecutor general (hereinafter - Recommendations). The form of the implementation of the Directive is in principle an adequate technique of transposition. But some provisions of the Recommendations differ from the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code or restrict them. This casts doubt on whether the requirements of constitutional legality are met. To avoid this, it is recommended to harmonize the provisions of the Recommendations with the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code as regards the ground and terms to benefit from the special protection measures and definitions used. The results of the comparative analysis suggest that some aspects of national regulation in this field are not in full conformity with the requirements of the Directive, specifically, the recommendatory nature of the provisions, an exhaustive list of assessment criteria and special protection measures for children, an undefined benefit of some measures during trial proceedings or later stages and the performance of individual assessment using other procedures, unsufficient attention to victims of violence in close environment, victims' active participation in the procedure, flexibility options. It is therefore recommended to harmonize these provisions with the standards of Directive and supplement them. Victims of violence in close environment tend to experience a high rate of secondary and repeat victimisation, intimidation and retaliation, and there should be a strong presumption that these victims will benefit from special protection measures. Child victims are also considered vulnerable a priori. Consequently, as far as these victims are concerned it is appropriate to perform only the second stage of two-step process of assessment and determine specific protection measures to meet individual needs. The flexibility of the procedure, differentiation of the assessment, categorization of vulnerability is also to be considered in the case of other types of criminal acts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many authors investigating the quality of life have recently begun to examine economic stress to help promoting legitimate, effective and ethical public administration solutions. It is argued that economic stress has a negative impact on society's well-being, thereby creating direct and indirect losses to the state. This study is aimed at identifying the economic difficulties of residents of Lithuania, as well as the economic stress in different income groups. This paper presents some results of the survey, which was conducted in 2016 in Lithuania (n=1001). The results showed that the vast majority (about 40 percent) of Lithuanian households experience economic difficulties and a significant lack of money. The results revealed statistically significant economic hardship and economic stress differences in different income quintile groups and different subjective socio-economic status groups. Authors indicate that additional research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing multifaceted crisis of the 21st century demonstrates tight interconnectivity among governments, business and civil society as well as the urgent need for change. Permanent transformations cause changes in all areas of activity, principles and actors, which result in meaningful shifts in the public governance paradigm. This paper examines the participatory development of local communities from the perspective of farmers' social responsibility. The underlying research question is: “What level of social responsibility is assumed by farmers to support the involvement and development of a local community?” To answer the research question, positivist methodology was applied. Theoretical modelling was used to localize the research object - the participatory development of local communities - in conjunction with relevant paradigms of new public governance and corporate social responsibility. Farmers' social responsibility was defined and theoretically explained from the participatory development approach. A representative empirical study was performed in Lithuanian farms. Research results show that the participatory development of local communities in the context of farmers' social responsibility is just evolving in Lithuania. The top five responsibilities most often assumed by Lithuanian farmers and even those never assumed lack core values of social responsibility due to its rare occurrence, and thus give foresight for more targeted development of farmers' social responsibility in the future in the field of farmers' support schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]