Lithuania OECD
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
In Search of the Law Governed State
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARCH TITLE: IN SEARCH OF THE LAW-GOVERNED STAT E Conference Paper #17 of 1 7 Commentary : The Printed versions of Conference Remarks by Participant s AUTHOR: Berman et al . CONTRACTOR: Lehigh University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Donald D. Barry COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 805-0 1 DATE : October 199 1 The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and East European Research. The analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those of the author. NCSEER NOTE This paper is #17 in the series listed on the following page. The series is the product of a major conferenc e entitled, In Search of the Law-Governed State: Political and Societal Reform Under Gorbachev, which was summarized in a Council Report by that title authored by Donald D . Barry, and distributed by the Council i n October, 1991. The remaining papers were distributed seriatim . This paper was written prior to the attempted coup of August 19, 1991 . The Conference Papers 1. GIANMARIA AJANI, "The Rise and Fall of the Law-Governed Stat e in the Experience of Russian Legal Scholarship . " 2. EUGENE HUSKEY , "From Legal Nihilism to Pravovoe Gosudarstvo : Soviet Legal Development, 1917-1990 . " 3. LOUISE SHELLEY, "Legal Consciousness and the Pravovoe Gosudarstvo . " 4. DIETRICH ANDRE LOEBER, "Regional and National Variations : The Baltic Factor . " 5. JOHN HAZARD, "The Evolution of the Soviet Constitution . " 6. FRANCES FOSTER-SIMONS, "The Soviet Legislature : Gorbachev' s School of Democracy . " 7. GER VAN DEN BERG, "Executive Power and the Concept of Pravovo e Gosudarstvo . -
Lithuania Political Briefing: the Polls Indicate a Change of Governing Coalition After the Parliamentary Elections Linas Eriksonas
ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 32, No. 1 (LT) September 2020 Lithuania political briefing: The polls indicate a change of governing coalition after the parliamentary elections Linas Eriksonas 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: CHen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 The polls indicate a change of governing coalition after the parliamentary elections On 11 October Lithuania will hold the first round of the parliamentary elections. The second round will take place two weeks later, on 25 October. The increasing number of infected cases by COVID-19 coincided with the final month of the election campaign. It put restrictions on the way the political campaign has been led by the participants of the elections such as obligatory wearing of the masks when meeting the voters, preventing the effective use of face- to-face contact and door-to-door canvassing in political campaigning. Below is an overview of the political landscape within which the elections are taking place, outlining the voter preferences for and their sympathies towards the main political parties and indicating the possibilities for different yet highly unpredictable electoral outcomes. The results of the latest polls are briefly discussed, identifying the main difficulties in using the poll data for a more reliable prediction of the election results. The Lithuanian political scene is roughly divided into two halves. The governing coalition represents one half. It is led by the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union with two minor coalition partners (Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance and the Social Democratic Labour Party). -
The Sovereignty of the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories in the Brexit Era
Island Studies Journal, 15(1), 2020, 151-168 The sovereignty of the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories in the Brexit era Maria Mut Bosque School of Law, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Spain MINECO DER 2017-86138, Ministry of Economic Affairs & Digital Transformation, Spain Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK [email protected] (corresponding author) Abstract: This paper focuses on an analysis of the sovereignty of two territorial entities that have unique relations with the United Kingdom: the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories (BOTs). Each of these entities includes very different territories, with different legal statuses and varying forms of self-administration and constitutional linkages with the UK. However, they also share similarities and challenges that enable an analysis of these territories as a complete set. The incomplete sovereignty of the Crown Dependencies and BOTs has entailed that all these territories (except Gibraltar) have not been allowed to participate in the 2016 Brexit referendum or in the withdrawal negotiations with the EU. Moreover, it is reasonable to assume that Brexit is not an exceptional situation. In the future there will be more and more relevant international issues for these territories which will remain outside of their direct control, but will have a direct impact on them. Thus, if no adjustments are made to their statuses, these territories will have to keep trusting that the UK will be able to represent their interests at the same level as its own interests. Keywords: Brexit, British Overseas Territories (BOTs), constitutional status, Crown Dependencies, sovereignty https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.114 • Received June 2019, accepted March 2020 © 2020—Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. -
Local Government Primer
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PRIMER Alaska Municipal League Alaskan Local Government Primer Alaska Municipal League The Alaska Municipal League (AML) is a voluntary, Table of Contents nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization of 163 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities, Purpose of Primer............ Page 3 representing over 97 percent of Alaska's residents. Originally organized in 1950, the League of Alaska Cities............................Pages 4-5 Cities became the Alaska Municipal League in 1962 when boroughs joined the League. Boroughs......................Pages 6-9 The mission of the Alaska Municipal League is to: Senior Tax Exemption......Page 10 1. Represent the unified voice of Alaska's local Revenue Sharing.............Page 11 governments to successfully influence state and federal decision making. 2. Build consensus and partnerships to address Alaska's Challenges, and Important Local Government Facts: 3. Provide training and joint services to strengthen ♦ Mill rates are calculated by directing the Alaska's local governments. governing body to determine the budget requirements and identifying all revenue sources. Alaska Conference of Mayors After the budget amount is reduced by subtracting revenue sources, the residual is the amount ACoM is the parent organization of the Alaska Mu- required to be raised by the property tax.That nicipal League. The ACoM and AML work together amount is divided by the total assessed value and to form a municipal consensus on statewide and the result is identified as a “mill rate”. A “mill” is federal issues facing Alaskan local governments. 1/1000 of a dollar, so the mill rate simply states the amount of tax to be charged per $1,000 of The purpose of the Alaska Conference of Mayors assessed value. -
Taxes, Institutions, and Governance: Evidence from Colonial Nigeria
Taxes, Institutions and Local Governance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Colonial Nigeria Daniel Berger September 7, 2009 Abstract Can local colonial institutions continue to affect people's lives nearly 50 years after decolo- nization? Can meaningful differences in local institutions persist within a single set of national incentives? The literature on colonial legacies has largely focused on cross country comparisons between former French and British colonies, large-n cross sectional analysis using instrumental variables, or on case studies. I focus on the within-country governance effects of local insti- tutions to avoid the problems of endogeneity, missing variables, and unobserved heterogeneity common in the institutions literature. I show that different colonial tax institutions within Nigeria implemented by the British for reasons exogenous to local conditions led to different present day quality of governance. People living in areas where the colonial tax system required more bureaucratic capacity are much happier with their government, and receive more compe- tent government services, than people living in nearby areas where colonialism did not build bureaucratic capacity. Author's Note: I would like to thank David Laitin, Adam Przeworski, Shanker Satyanath and David Stasavage for their invaluable advice, as well as all the participants in the NYU predissertation seminar. All errors, of course, remain my own. Do local institutions matter? Can diverse local institutions persist within a single country or will they be driven to convergence? Do decisions about local government structure made by colonial governments a century ago matter today? This paper addresses these issues by looking at local institutions and local public goods provision in Nigeria. -
Reimagine Local Government
Reimagine Local Government English devolution: Chancellor aims for faster and more radical change English devolution: Chancellor aims for faster and more radical change • Experience of Greater Manchester has shown importance of Councils that have not yet signed up must be feeling pressure strong leadership to join the club, not least in Yorkshire, where so far only • Devolution in areas like criminal justice will help address Sheffield has done a deal with the government. complex social problems This is impressive progress for an initiative proceeding without • Making councils responsible for raising budgets locally a top-down legislative reorganisation and instead depends shows radical nature of changes on painstaking council-by-council negotiations. However, as all the combined authorities are acutely aware, the benefits • Cuts to business rates will stiffen the funding challenge, of devolution will not be realised unless they act swiftly and even for most dynamic councils decisively to turn words on paper into reality on the ground. With so much coverage of the Budget focusing on proposed Implementation has traditionally been a strength in local cuts to disability benefits, George Osborne’s changes to government. But until now implementation of new policies devolution and business rates rather flew under the radar. They has typically taken place within the boundaries of individual should not have done more attention. These reforms are likely local authorities. These devolution deals require a new set of to have lasting and dramatic impact on public services. skills – the ability to work across boundaries with neighbouring Osborne announced three new devolution deals – for East authorities and with other public bodies. -
ESS9 Appendix A3 Political Parties Ed
APPENDIX A3 POLITICAL PARTIES, ESS9 - 2018 ed. 3.0 Austria 2 Belgium 4 Bulgaria 7 Croatia 8 Cyprus 10 Czechia 12 Denmark 14 Estonia 15 Finland 17 France 19 Germany 20 Hungary 21 Iceland 23 Ireland 25 Italy 26 Latvia 28 Lithuania 31 Montenegro 34 Netherlands 36 Norway 38 Poland 40 Portugal 44 Serbia 47 Slovakia 52 Slovenia 53 Spain 54 Sweden 57 Switzerland 58 United Kingdom 61 Version Notes, ESS9 Appendix A3 POLITICAL PARTIES ESS9 edition 3.0 (published 10.12.20): Changes from previous edition: Additional countries: Denmark, Iceland. ESS9 edition 2.0 (published 15.06.20): Changes from previous edition: Additional countries: Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden. Austria 1. Political parties Language used in data file: German Year of last election: 2017 Official party names, English 1. Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ) - Social Democratic Party of Austria - 26.9 % names/translation, and size in last 2. Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP) - Austrian People's Party - 31.5 % election: 3. Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) - Freedom Party of Austria - 26.0 % 4. Liste Peter Pilz (PILZ) - PILZ - 4.4 % 5. Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative (Grüne) - The Greens – The Green Alternative - 3.8 % 6. Kommunistische Partei Österreichs (KPÖ) - Communist Party of Austria - 0.8 % 7. NEOS – Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum (NEOS) - NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum - 5.3 % 8. G!LT - Verein zur Förderung der Offenen Demokratie (GILT) - My Vote Counts! - 1.0 % Description of political parties listed 1. The Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ) is a social above democratic/center-left political party that was founded in 1888 as the Social Democratic Worker's Party (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei, or SDAP), when Victor Adler managed to unite the various opposing factions. -
The Term Decentralization Is Used So Commonly And
Decentralization – Key Issues, Major Trends and Future Developments Lidija R. Basta The term decentralization is used so commonly and Professor at the Institute yet defined so variously that it will be necessary to indicate of Federalism, University its usage in this text with some precision. To begin with, of Fribourg there are two, separable but closely linked themes which cover the issue of decentralization: a) intergovernmental processes, i.e. decentralization of gover- nance between levels of government from federal/central to state/local; b) deregulation, i.e., decentralization from governments to market, quasi-market and non-governmental organizations (the balance of public sector compared with market resource allocation).1 The article will focus on the first dimension and address decen- tralization as a specific concept of state organization and method of governance, including major issues of economic and fiscal decentralization, since this aspect has mainly been understood as decentralization stricto sensu. 28 Decentralization is of itself a relative, rather than absolute con- cept, which can be understood only “against either different nor- mative models or different practical starting points”. When addressing the intergovernmental structures and processes of decentralization, the analytical and empirical approaches are to be combined, taking two facts equally into account: (a) that also when referred to governmental structure and relating functions, the term “decentralization” describes development, (the process of) change from a former to a new institutional set-up; (b) that any categorization of decentralization trends faces the problem of how to conceptually incorporate the influence of the specificity of given local context. The latter has four dimensions: a) the level of economic development, b) the extent of development of representative democracy and experience of democratic systems, c) the structure of the settlement system (urban vs. -
Lithuania's New Parliament: Tackling Emigration Will Be a Key Priority For
Lithuania’s new parliament: Tackling emigration will be a key priority for the country’s new MPs blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2016/11/14/lithuanias-new-parliament-tackling-emigration-will-be-a-key-priority-for-the-countrys-new-mps/ 14/11/2016 Members of the Lithuanian parliament are being sworn in today following elections in October. Ingrida Unikaitė-Jakuntavičienė presents an analysis of the election result, which saw the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union make surprising gains to become the country’s largest party. She writes that addressing high levels of emigration among young Lithuanians will be one of the main aims for the party’s members as they enter parliament. On 14 November, the newly elected Lithuanian Parliament ( Seimas) holds its first parliamentary session, where members are sworn in and the Chairman of the Parliament is elected. The 141 members were elected in two rounds of elections on 9 and 23 October, with 71 of them being elected in single- member constituencies by majority vote and the remaining 70 in a nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. Polling from July to September indicated that the governing Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) enjoyed a lead with around 16 percent of support, while the other two largest parties were closely behind and had a roughly equal chance of finishing second: the Homeland Union (from 10 to 14 percent) and the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union ( from 12 to 14 percent). But the election itself produced an altogether different result. In the first round, the Homeland Union, who articulate a broadly conservative platform, led with 21.7 percent of the proportional representation vote share and 20 seats, leaving the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union just behind in second place (21.5 percent, 19 seats) and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania in a distant third place (14.4 percent, 13 seats). -
UNITED NATIONS CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All
CEDAW/C/LTU/1 English Page 1 CEDAW UNITED NATIONS Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW) CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 18 OF THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN Initial report of States parties LITHUANIA Part I Land and people1 Lithuania is located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east, and Poland and the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation to the south. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 square kilometres. At the beginning of 1998 the population totalled 3,704 million. The capital of Lithuania is Vilnius. Average income per capita: in the first quarter of 1998, it was 452 litas (LT), and average disposable income per capita was LT 393.7. GDP: in 1996, LT 31,569 million; and in 1997, LT 38,201 million. /... CEDAW/C/LTU/1 English Page 2 Rate of inflation has been decreasing in recent years: in 1994, it was 45.1 per cent, and in 1997, 8.4 per cent. External debt: as of 1 July 1998, it comprised US$ 1,402.70 million. Rate of unemployment: in 1997, 5.9 per cent; in April 1998, 6.9 per cent. Literacy rate: according to the census of 1989, 99.8 per cent of the population 9-49 years of age were literate. Religion: the majority of the population is Roman Catholic. Ethnic composition of the population: according to the data of the beginning of 1997, Lithuanians comprised 81.6 per cent; Russians, 8.2; Poles, 6.9; Belarussians, 1.5; Ukrainians, 1.0; Jews, 0.1; and other nationalities, 0.7 per cent. -
The Cyprus Question and the Role of the UN: an Overall Assessment
The Cyprus Question and the Role of the UN: An Overall Assessment Andreas Theophanous Odysseas Christou Since its creation the Republic of Cyprus has had a very turbulent history. From the outset the geopolitical implications of the Treaty of Establishment, the Treaty of Alliance, and the Treaty of Guarantee on the one hand and the particular characteristics of the Cold War on the other were not fully understood. Domestic tensions as well as foreign interventions led eventually to the cataclysmic events of the summer of 1974. Fifty years after the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, this island-state faces critical problems and multidimensional challenges.1 The greatest challenge remains the reestablishment of the territorial integrity and unity of the country. Prior to the Turkish invasion of 1974, the basis of the intercommunal negotiations revolved around the establishment of a unitary state with elements of local and communal, self-administration on issues of low level politics. Since the latter part of the 1970s, the model for the solution to the Cyprus problem, according to conventional orthodoxy, has essentially been a bizonal bicommunal federation.2 Yet despite successive and repeated rounds of intercommunal negotiations under the auspices of the UN and the support of the international community there has not been an agreement.3 In fact, the problem remains unresolved while the gap between the two sides is widening. Thus, it is not surprising that to the present day the bizonal bicommunal federation does not yet have a commonly accepted precise definition. Besides it is indeed doubtful whether the implementation of such a model could lead to stability and cooperation.4 Historical Background and Context Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, located approximately 70 km to the south of Turkey. -
Ethnography of Voting: Nostalgia, Subjectivity, and Popular Politics in Post-Socialist Lithuania
ETHNOGRAPHY OF VOTING: NOSTALGIA, SUBJECTIVITY, AND POPULAR POLITICS IN POST-SOCIALIST LITHUANIA by Neringa Klumbytė BA, Vytautas Magnus University, 1996 MA, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1997 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2006 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented By Neringa Klumbytė It was defended on March 31, 2006 and approved by Nicole Constable, Professor, Department of Anthropology Ilya Prizel, Professor, UCIS Alberta Sbragia, Professor, Department of Political Science Andrew Strathern, Professor, Department of Anthropology ii ETHNOGRAPHY OF VOTING: NOSTALGIA, SUBJECTIVITY, AND POPULAR POLITICS IN POST-SOCIALIST LITHUANIA Neringa Klumbytė, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2006 Politics in Eastern Europe has become increasingly defined by apparent paradoxes, such as majority voting for the ex-communist parties in the early 1990s and strong support for populists and the radical right later in the 1990s and 2000s. The tendency in political science studies is to speak about the losers of transition, and to explain success of the ex-communist, radical and populist parties and politicians in terms of the politics of resentment or protest voting. However, what subjectivities have been produced during post-socialism and why/how they are articulated in particular dialogues among politicians and people, are questions that have not been discussed in most studies. In this dissertation I explore political subjectivities to explain voting behavior in the period of 2003-2004 in Lithuania. I analyze nostalgia for socialism and individuals’ relations to social and political history, community, nation, and the state.