“Lituanistika”, International Research Database
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Lonely island or the free among the free?: the image of free republics in political discourse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
No full textResearchers have long drawn attention to the deep conviction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth nobility about the uniqueness of their country and its freedoms. Contrary to what is sometimes believed, it was not an expression of Sarmatian megalomania, which made itself felt in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, this opinion was propagated at least from the middle of the sixteenth century. Nor was it some kind of Polish peculiarity, citizens of other free commonwealths said and probably thought about their freedoms in a similar way. Already in the 15th century, the inhabitants of Florence considered their republic to be unique and extraordinary, precisely because of its freedom. The Venetians, and later the Dutch and the English, assessed their country and freedom in a similar way. The sentence: "there is only one kingdom on earth where freedom has found a home" contrary to appearances does not refer to the Sarmatian Commonwealth, but to Hanoverian England, and its author believed that his homeland was the only country and the British were the only people who can truly say about himself: "we are free." Noble citizens of Polish Republic entered this discourse early, even before the first free election. The author discusses the history of this discourse in the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, stating that, contrary to the references in the 16th century, and even at the beginning of the 17th century, later references to republics other than the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or ancient republics (especially Rome) were not numerous and quite superficial, their authors generally did not know much about the mentioned countries, but they had no doubts that they share a certain similarity with the Commonwealth, which could be described as a community of freedom. Because this very motif, also important earlier, became dominant in the 17th century and the first half of the 18 century. The crisis and ossification of political reflection, combined with a decrease in interest in the outside world, meant that more extensive references to other countries and their political solutions no longer appeared in noble political discussions. Their participants, however, continued to include their country in a fairly elite community of European republics and still, regardless of all social, religious and political differences, of which they were often unaware, they still considered them their "companions." Keywords: freedom; res publica; republic; political discussion; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Adam Mickiewicz in search of Lithuanian national identity
No full textAdam Mickiewicz’s multicultural national identity, based on his claim Sum gente lituanus, natione autem polonus, was created over the several centuries that followed the Lithuanian Grand Duchy’s formation of the union with the Polish kingdom. Thus, it is no surprise that his reception in the literatures of these respective countries became so complicated. It was not only the Lithuanians and Poles who strayed into fruitless arguments as to which country could lay more claim to him, but disputes also constantly arose even within the relevant societies: did he belong to their national literature or was he foreign to it? In Lithuania two alternative traditions of reception formed: one faction (Jonas Basanavičius, Jonas Aistis, Faustas Kirša) erased him from Lithuanian culture and national identity, the same way as it treated all of the Polonised Lithuanian nobility; while others (Antanas Baranauskas, Maironis, Motiejus Gustaitis, Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė, Vincas Krėvė, Stasys Šalkauskis, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, Julijonas Lindė-Dobilas, Antanas Maceina, Petras Juodelis, Justinas Marcinkevičius, Vytautas Kubilius, etc.), supported a positive reception, honouring him as “a genius of the Lithuanian spirit”. The article will demonstrate the impact of Mickiewicz’s poetry on the conceptions of Lithuanian national identity presented by two Lithuanian cultural philosophers, Šalkauskis and Maceina, and will briefly discuss its more significant variations in Lithuanian romantic and neo-romantic literature. Referencing Mickiewicz’s work reveals qualities of mysticism, syntheticism and Prometheanism in Lithuanian literature and in the concept of national identity itself. The problem of Mickiewicz as foreign to Lithuanians (being foreign in some aspects to Poles as well) and his incompatibility with any notions of ‘purity’ of national identity at this time encourages one to delve into varied regional cultural relationships and the openness and complications of national identity more deeply. Keywords: national identity; neo-romanticism; cultural philosophy; the concept of Promethean culture; the conception of an East–West synthesis
The Lithuanianisation of Adam Mickiewicz
No full textIn this article, I analyse the cultural practices applied by Lithuanian interwar intellectuals seeking to Lithuanianise the great Polish romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz. Mickiewicz was born to a family of Polish-speaking nobles in a predominantly Belarusian part of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Because his historically themed works had an impact on the Lithuanian national movement, Lithuanian intellectuals sought ways to attribute Mickiewicz to Lithuanian culture. Mickiewicz, who wrote in Polish, was a stalwart Polish-Lithuanian patriot. As this was in conflict with ethnocultural Lithuanian nationalism, interwar defenders of Mickiewicz’s attribution to Lithuanian literature looked for additional arguments supporting the poet’s Lithuanianness. In this article, I explore two ways that Mickiewicz was Lithuanianised: through a myth surrounding his ethnic origins and by introducing distortions into Lithuanian translations of the poet’s works. From the end of the nineteenth century, Lithuanians generally saw their local nobility as ‘Polonised Lithuanians’. This view applied to Mickiewicz as well. Without having any factual evidence to support it, the interwar Lithuanian philosopher Stasys Šalkauskis sought to convince readers that Mickiewicz was descended from the Rimvydas clan. Another means of Lithuanianising Mickiewicz was through ideologically motivated editing and distorting translations of his works into Lithuanian. The most striking example of this was a 1927 anthology of the poet’s works compiled by Lithuanian literary historian Mykolas Biržiška. Keywords: Adam Mickiewicz; nationalism studies; literary canon studies; Lithuanian national movement
School education in danger? The Polish and Lithuanian perspective of changes and the situation of school in Lithuania: a study of one event
No full textRepresentatives of every minority want their rights to be respected in the state in which they live and of which they are citizens. The problems related to education for national minorities are among the most complicated and arguable. Political controversies and disputes in magazine columns do not always translate into good relations in the culturally diverse environment. The text is aimed to present the situation related to the conflict in one of the schools in Lithuania, which began (as a kind of prelude) at the end of 2021 and developed in 2022. Our assumption was to analyze the described situation from three perspectives presented in: the Polish press in the context of some actions taken by the government and their effects, as well as the way of describing them; an analogical presentation of the Lithuanian perspective and the stakeholders themselves (including the headmaster of the school where the described situation took place). For a better understanding of the context of the described analyses, the text begins with a brief description of the current legal status, the educational network and its scope. Keywords: educational system, minority education, Polish education in Lithuania, conflict, state of emergency
Legal position of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania
No full textThe aim of the paper is to analyse the legal position of the Central Electoral Commission in the electoral law of the Republic of Lithuania. The considerations focus, frstly, on defning the status of this body, and secondly, on identifying the tasks imposed by the legislator on the CEC. In the second case, the analysis focuses only on the general outline of the Commission’s tasks, as their detailed analysis would require the preparation of a separate study. The analysis also aimes at verifying whether the Lithuanian legislator, when shaping the regulations concerning the Commission, took into account the European standards for the organisation and functioning of central electoral bodies, as defned by the Venice Commission. On the basis of the conducted research work, an attempt was made to determine to which of the electoral administration models the Lithuanian model should be included, taking into account the location and tasks of the CEC. It should be added that the analysis of the above issues seems justifed, as so far this issue has not been comprehensively discussed in the Polish legal or political science literature, and moreover, it has rarely been discussed in the Lithuanian literature. In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the formal and legal method was used and the doctrinal work was analysed. In addition, a comparative legal method was used to show the differences and similarities between the central authorities of other countries, and an empirical method was used to outline the practical aspects of the functioning of the CEC. Keywords: Central Electoral Commission, elections, Republic of Lithuania, Election Code, election administration
Regional organizational partnership in health tourism
No full textThe mechanism of organizational partnership is a complex process. In the scientific literature, there are factors that can influence the existence of an effective organizational partnership. These factors are usually associated with power relations established between stakeholders; not finding a common vision; different and sometimes competing interests; lack of dialogue and leadership and different communication styles and culture etc. The authors formulate the purpose of the research - to identify opportunities for improving regional partnership in the health tourism industry during the expert evaluation. The authors of the article assume that regional partnership management is initiated by applying and creating various instruments. The role of the state in initiating regional cooperation (e.g. in the health tourism industry, using the available resources of each region to create health and wellness services) and the importance of the regional management of the region itself, in organizing cooperation and networking, identifying and involving significant actors, is emphasized. In order to determine the effectiveness of regional cooperation, efforts towards the goal of movement, and the allocation of resources, it is useful to carry out evaluations. Keywords: regional management, organizational partnership, health tourism, inter-organizational effectiveness
Social cooperative model choices in the socially unsustainable environment: evidence from Lithuania
No full textThis research analyses the establishment and development of social cooperatives exposed to adverse factors in socially unsustainable contexts. The study focuses on a Lithuanian case study, with participants having limited experience creating a socially resilient enterprise ecosystem. The study employed a qualitative approach using case study and comparative analysis methods. The study found that Lithuania’s opportunities to leverage the benefits of social cooperatives are held back by a weak cooperative movement, a socially unsustainable environment, and limited understanding among professionals. The involvement of public policy actors in debates on legalising social business models is also limited. The study participants had mixed opinions about the social cooperative model for business development. Some favoured its cooperative principles and profit-sharing advantages, while others preferred non-profit organisations or smaller communities. The study also found a contradiction in the concepts of social business. The researchers suggest that the conditions for establishing social cooperatives could be more favourable in Lithuania, but social business founders require help understanding cooperative companies’ organisation and finances, for which the current public and private resources available are insufficient. Lithuania’s current policy of support and regulation for social business prioritises several social business models, which complicates the decision-making process for prospective social cooperative founders. Keywords: social economy; social cooperatives; sustainability; Lithuania
Impact of the EPBD on changes in the energy performance of multi-apartment buildings in Lithuania
No full textAs per general provisions of European Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy efficiency of buildings (recast), the Lithuanian government transposed the Directive into Lithuanian national law. In the process, the Lithuanian government prepared strategic documents in the field of energy performance and renewable energy that were integrated together through the National Energy and Climate Plan for 2021–2030 (NECP). To better understand the current situation vis-à-vis energy performance, the main characteristics of buildings pertaining to the Lithuanian multi-apartment building stock, classified according to their energy performance class, are analysed and discussed in this paper. Through the exploitation of data from the national Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) register, an overview of the energy performance of the existing Lithuanian residential building stock is presented along with an analysis of the unused potential energy savings pertinent to this building category. The results obtained from the analysed data of energy consumption in buildings shows that the policies adopted over the years were successful in improving the building stock, promoting the move towards the specifications required by a Class A++ (nearly zero energy buildings—NZEB) by 2021. The results show that this was primarily achieved by a significant reduction in the thermal energy used for space heating. Keywords: energy performance certificate; CO2; multi-apartment buildings; heating; energy consumption; cooling
The Ecological funeral: new ideas in contemporary Lithuania
No full textThe article examines ecological funerals in contemporary Lithuania. The present study focuses on content and visual analysis of funeral celebrations taking information from the contemporary Lithuanian mass media and social media networks, as well as the websites of seven funeral companies. The field research is based on digital material gathered by the author in 2021-2022. I am interested in changes to funeral customs over the latest decade, approaching the subject matter through three key research questions: What factors motivate Lithuanian citizens to decide on an ecological funeral? What changes to the traditional funeral are the most ecologically sustainable? What has the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic been on people’s ideas about ecological funerals? Keywords: ecological funeral, contemporary Lithuania, Covid-19 pandemic
The Influence of partnership status on fertility intentions of childless women and men across European countries
No full textThe absence of a suitable partner is the most frequently given reason for unmet fertility intentions across European countries while having a partner is positively associated with the intention to have a child. However, once this relationship is framed within a life-course approach, existing evidence is mixed and inconclusive. The norm to have children within a stable relationship and norms regarding the timing of childbirth are acknowledged in many contemporary societies. Therefore, the presence of a partner might have a stronger effect on fertility intentions around the social deadline for fertility, which could explain the mixed findings in previous research. This article analyses how fertility intentions are influenced by partnership status and how this relationship varies by age and across countries. We use data from the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey to analyse a sample of childless men and women aged 18–45 years from 12 European countries. We implement logistic regression models to investigate the influence of having a partner on fertility intentions during the life course. Previous studies found that the positive influence of having a partner either decreases across the life course or does not vary significantly. This study reveals that the positive association between partnership and fertility intentions increases from the age of 18, proving that whether someone is in a partnership becomes more influential at later stages in life. After a certain age threshold, which varies across countries and gender, this positive association either turns insignificant, remains positive, or reverses. Keywords: fertility intentions; partnership status; cross-national; Europe; theory of conjunctural action