Viešoji politika ir administravimas 2024, vol. 23, no. 3

This article underlines how a transparent and unambiguously understood legal system is an integral part of a sustainable state. The analysis begins with the central thesis that unambiguous legislation not only contributes to the smooth enforcement of the law, but also strengthens citizens’ confidence in rule of law institutions. The article discusses a few key aspects, including the importance of clarity in the language of legislation and specific drafting principles that show how clarity contributes to the achievement of the sustainable development goals. It also emphasizes that clarity should not only be seen as a technical aspect of legislation, but also as a strategic aspect of governance, promoting legal awareness and empowering the public to actively participate in public governance. It is also stressed that clearly formulated legislation is essential for effective, accountable, and transparent governance, and that legislation must be equally understood by all sections of society. Finally, the article touches on the concept of a sustainable state, with a transparent and efficient legal system that can respond quickly to social, economic, and environmental challenges, ensuring the full well-being and stability of its citizens. The themes of the article cover several key areas: the principle of legal certainty, the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms, economic development, the transparency of the legislative process, and the uniformity of the interpretation and application of law.

The factors contributing to political and institutional trust in Europe are under-researched. This study aims to explore the links between political and institutional trust, subjective well-being, and satisfaction with the economy, national government, and democracy by applying data from the 11th round of the European Social Survey, conducted in 2023–2024. The age of the participants (n = 22,039) ranged from 15 to 90 (M = 51.88, SD = 18.728). The results reveal that in European countries, trust in politicians and political parties is consistently lower than trust in institutions such as the police, the legal system, and international organizations like the United Nations. The findings show that subjective well-being is significantly correlated with all forms of political and institutional trust, including trust in the country’s parliament, legal system, politicians, political parties, the European Parliament, and the United Nations, suggesting that institutional trust is a foundational component of societal well-being. However, the strongest correlation is observed between trust in the police and subjective well-being. Satisfaction with the economy, national government, and democracy show the strongest correlations with trust in the country’s parliament and politicians, positing that economic conditions and governmental performance are the primary determinants of political trust. Structural equation modeling reveals that subjective well-being does not directly translate into political and institutional trust, but political and economic satisfaction acts as a critical mediating variable. High levels of life satisfaction and happiness can enhance positive perceptions of economic and governmental performance, which in turn foster political and institutional trust.

The paper analyses the trends of organizational resilience management in Lithuanian central government institutions based on the “bounce-back” concept, examining the impact on the organization from both internal and external environments and incorporating the resulting uncertainty conditions conceptualized through the prism of the organization’s available information for decision-making. The results of an empirical qualitative study in the Lithuanian public sector suggest that performance deterioration in Lithuanian central government organizations arises from both the internal and the external environment. The study reveals that the strength and the frequency of these impacts are comparably similar in each environment, affecting organizational performance with regular and unexpected factors. Regular environmental influences tend to create conditions of moderate uncertainty, where information is either known and available or there is a constant demand for new information acquisition. Unexpected environmental influences tend to create high uncertainty conditions, where there is a persistent need for information in order to make decisions, escalating to not knowing what information is needed and where it can be obtained. Experts suggest that managing resilience and decision-making under uncertainty requires organizations to invest in information processing and communication, emphasizing free information flow and live, substantive communication between managers, adjusting provided information on the situation that is limiting or expanding it. Effective knowledge management and learning processes that help organizations adapt to changing conditions are best supported by personnel who possess institutional memory, suitable digitization of management information, and active engagement in national net-working (or international networking if no national equivalent exists). Inadequate preparation for periods of negative impact disrupts the organization’s information exchange, and the learning element becomes unmanageable, especially if the negative impact situations re frequent and unforeseen, depriving the organization of the necessary time to “take a breath, look back and learn, and consolidate learning.”.

Family support is a crucial component affecting the functioning of parents of children with disabilities within society. Sufficient services that cater to both child support and the parents’ quality of life are required, or else the state labor market runs the risk of losing able-bodied citizens who are responsible for raising children with disabilities. Thus, the research has twofold aim: to review the system of public services for families raising children with disabilities in Lithuania, and to analyze the availability of services from the perspective of managers of service-providing institutions. A structured interviews was conducted to collect information from eighteen experts who are heads of education, health and social services departments of municipalities and subordinate institutions, responsible for decision-making in the organization and provision of services to families raising children with disabilities in the Alytus region. According to research findings, the Alytus region has the potential to provide education, healthcare, and social services following legal provisions. However, the current range of services is inadequate in practice. Typically, most services are available only upon parental request for children with disabilities, with certain services not being available for numerous reasons. Based on the research findings, the insufficient provision of services in the Alytus region is mainly attributable to a shortage of service staff and limited financial resources. At the same time, the study highlights a slow responsiveness of the municipalities and their subordinate entities towards communicating and collaborating, as well as with parents of disabled children.