The public administration reform process in Latvia from the beginning of the 1990s was separated into two parts - national administrative reform and administrative territorial reform – both with ...their own unique goals and implementation mechanisms. The divided coordination and management of the reforms have resulted in the two administrative subsystems. The paper’s aim is to explore the links between reforms in the national level and local level after 2004 by analyzing the main reform documents determining all reform activities at that time. The results will demonstrate the complexity of the reform management process, as the coordination of reforms is essential regarding all of its levels and sectors.
E-leadership (i.e., remotely leading employees) has become a new normal in the public sector during the pandemic. However, practices of e-leadership differ due to legal, national and even ...organisational conditions. A deeper analysis is needed to understand what has happened with leadership practices in municipalities after the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the article is to reveal the main challenges of e-leadership in the post-pandemic municipal administrations and to identify e-leaders’ approaches (how they should act) in this context. A qualitative method of online focus groups was used to analyze specifics of the post-pandemic e-leadership in municipal administrations. The research was conducted in Lithuanian, Latvian and German municipal administrations. It was revealed that the use of remote work and e-leadership in municipal administrations after the pandemic heavily depends on the attitudes of supervisors toward work productivity. In addition, ensuring effective digital communication as well as managing social contacts and maintaining team spirit become challenges for e-leadership in municipalities after the pandemic also when remote work is reduced.
European Territorial Cooperation is one important context in which partners from across the whole of Europe meet and learn from each other. Naturally, the involvement of partners from Central and ...Eastern European (CEE) countries in this process is increasing as a consequence of the expansion of Europe, particularly the accession of ten new EU member states in 2004, and two more in 2007. Various examples can be found where CEE countries are seeking to catch up politically and economically by drawing lessons from policies in more developed countries. The uncertainties of policy-making in some of these countries have made policy transfer a particularly attractive option, as politicians see it as the quickest solution to many problems without having to reinvent the wheel. This paper focuses on international policy-transfer and lesson-drawing, looking specifically at how urban transport concepts and ideas have been transferred from Western Europe to two CEE countries. In these cases, the social and economic situations in the "borrowing" and "lending" countries are very different. So too, are the institutional frameworks. As a consequence, successful policy transfer is much more complex than mere copying or emulation. The paper argues that large-scale institutional transformations are neither feasible nor desirable to produce results that benefit cities in CEE countries. Small initiatives with straightforward, comparatively short-term outcomes and moderate budgets often work better and keep momentum going for further steps towards more sustainable urban transport policies and programs.
The implementation of austerity measures presents a dilemma for governments. While austerity measures such as cutbacks aim to reduce costs and enhance public sector efficiency, the same measures ...might undermine the motivation of employees and, consequently, the prospects of effectively implementing austerity programmes. Based on a survey of ministerial officials in Poland and Latvia, this article finds that the scale of cutbacks explains a larger decline of staff motivation in Latvia than in Poland. The article further shows that motivation was more likely to decrease after the crisis if austerity measures involved cutbacks such as staff reductions, recruitment freezes, and a reduction of training opportunities.
The public administration reform process in Latvia from the beginning of the 1990s was separated into two parts - national administrative reform and administrative territorial reform – both with ...their own unique goals and implementation mechanisms. The divided coordination and management of the reforms have resulted in the two administrative subsystems. The paper’s aim is to explore the links between reforms in the national level and local level after 2004 by analyzing the main reform documents determining all reform activities at that time. The results will demonstrate the complexity of the reform management process, as the coordination of reforms is essential regarding all of its levels and sectors.
accessible tourism is one of the scientific tourism studies concern that has been gaining more academic attention due to global demographic changes related to drastically growing disability rates and ...ageing population. This research took a qualitative approach to investigate accessible tourism situation, trends, and development in a post-Soviet country context. The case of this research – the old-town of Klaipėda city in Lithuania – was chosen for its great tourism potential. Although in the context of strategic planning documents of the Klaipėda city, the old-town is identified as a priority urban development area, the Lithuanian Association of People with Disabilities states that the territory is hardly suitable for people with access needs. Referring to qualitative methodological triangulation (document analysis, observation method applying photography method and semi-structured interview) and data content analysis, the authors examined the situation of tourism accessibility using I. Ambrose’s accessible tourism supply chain model, based on analysis of transport, information, services and infrastructure dimensions.
The article looks at ways on how Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union are contributing to peace and stability in Ukraine. Since 2014, after the Euromaidan and its demands for ...Europeanization of the country, the EU and other international donors are assisting Ukraine in its modernization efforts. The spread of violent military conflict in Eastern Ukraine required multilateral engagement of strategic partners in transformation of security and defence sectors, as well as active participation in conflict management in the Eastern part of the country. EU was taking part in various initiatives offered by member states, the Community itself, and Ukraine. The article questions whether those instruments, which constitute the essence of CSDP, have been utilized, and how beneficial those efforts were for Ukraine. The article also explores what improvements in the implementation of CSDP could enhance transformation of security sector in Ukraine and what are the main communication channels used to explain the reforms. Cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union was considered in a historical aspect. The authors emphasize that the first mechanisms for cooperation with the former Soviet Union republics were proposed by the European Union in 1994. These are the TACIS (Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States) and the TEMPUS (Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies) programmes that Ukraine has used in part. Ukraine’s cooperation with the EU within the framework of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine, the aim of which was facilitating the transformation of the civil security sector, was also considered. The article gives an overview of the tools that the European Union has at its disposal to work with other countries in the civil security sector. The results of the work of the EU in Ukraine after 2014, when the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine was launched, are analyzed. A list of issues to consider in the future is given.
This article discusses the development of regional policies in two countries, Latvia and Norway. The aim is to present how these policies have evolved and can be understood with the application of ...complexity theory as a common theoretical framework for analysis. Even though Latvia and Norway have quite different experiences in regional development policy, both have tried to react to modern challenges of globalization and demographic changes by using general theories and concepts of economic and social development. Differences and similarities between the two countries are high-lighted by a review of studies from Latvia and Norway that describes the variety of policies that can be applied for regional development.Regional policy in both countries has coalesced around support for local initiative and entrepreneurship.
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