Public sector reforms in Lithuania since 1990

• MRU CRIS: knygos tekstas

ENThis chapter covers several aspects of public administration reforms in Lithuania: (i) constitutional context, (ii) formation and developments at the central administration level, (iii) regional and local governance reforms, or in many instances their lack thereof, and (iv) development of the civil service. These, in our opinion, were the key areas where dynamic change took place, or a lot of effort was made on behalf of reformers to bring about change. But what is more telling, perhaps, is that over recent years the focus of the political elites has shifted away from public administration in general. Public adminis tration and civil service are treated as if they were given, and onlyfew attempts yielded the reforms. But this is primarily not for lack of trying and initiati ve on behalf of civil servants, as much as it is a result of a hung parliament that has now lasted for 4 parliamentary terms. In this context, comprehensive reforms present more risks that opportunities as far as the deputies on the floor of parliament are concerned. In our section we offer a short overview of crucial initiatives to change the key elements of public governance that have never really materialized beyond academic and informal discussions, such as government-wide guidelines or regulation on administrative process, standards of ethics, clear distinction between public administration and other public agencies, as well as that of civil servants and public employees. These are the questions that produce the proverbial ‘implementation gaps’, because they leave far too much discretion to various actors to skew initial reform ideas, and discourage such reforms on behalf of political leadership. [p. 50].

• Politikos mokslai / Political sciences
• Vadyba / Management