Increasing effectiveness of emergency management in Lithuania

Abstract

The progress made by the post-modern world not only induces growth of the existent risks but also generates globally-expanding hazards that have never been known before. Therefore emergency management (hereinafter referred to as EM) gains significance in any country of the world. The fundamental scientific problem in emergency management is as follows: under conditions of a risk society, how can unpredictability and complexity of potentially hazardous situations be mitigated and public safety increased. Different EM aspects are insufficiently researched and recognized in social sciences in Lithuania. Thus dissertation aims at contributing to the solution of the above-mentioned scientific problem by focussing on how emergency management should (could) be improved in a particular country. To solve this problem, the following objective was set for the research: to theoretically substantiate and empirically prove factors of effectiveness of emergency management and make suggestions for effectiveness improvement in Lithuania. Dissertation involves review of EM social research and its evolution, description and interpretation of concepts used in this particular field, establishes their inter-links, and formulates principles for EMS designing / improvement. It was theoretically substantiated that effectiveness of emergency management is determined by the mix of theoretical, political, socio-cultural (those realized through communications), structural and functional factors. Combining different theoretical and empirical research techniques, an original methodology for the research of status of those factors in Lithuania was prepared. Research paper examines in detail theoretical characteristics of EM effectiveness while presenting findings of empirical research on Lithuanian situation. Based on theoretical attitudes and practical results, suggestions for increasing EM effectiveness were made.