This article aims at offering a framework for analysing party patronage and state politicisation based on game-theoretic reasoning. It is argued that in order to reveal the main causal mechanisms behind these phenomena, one can focus on the cooperation between political parties analysis based on the model of prisoner’s dilemma. The article identifies four sets of obstacles to party cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe: unstable and polarised party systems; “the rules of the game” legitimising party patronage; dense party networks and their building through patronage; and insufficient regulation and weak enforcement of the merit principle in state administrations. The influence of these causal mechanisms in the post-communist countries can be explored through historical process-tracing and other methods. Finally, the article proposes several country-specific hypotheses for the empirical study of party patronage and state politicisation in Lithuania

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama Lietuvos gerovės valstybės raida šaliai įstojus į Europos Sąjungą (ES). Tekstą sudaro trys dalys. Teorinėje dalyje įvertinamas dviejų ilgalaikių valstybę struktūruojančių procesų – pokomunistinės transformacijos ir europeizacijos – santykis. Antrojoje dalyje analizuojami viešojo diskurso pokyčiai siekiant išsiaiškinti, ar ir kiek skirta dėmesio gerovės valstybės pertvarkai Lietuvoje pasiekus pagrindinius euroatlantinės integracijos tikslus. Galiausiai, remiantis „socialinių investicijų“ koncepcija, bus siekiama parodyti, kiek Lietuvos gerovės valstybės raida atliepia europines tendencijas. Pagrindinė tyrimo išvada yra ta, kad gerovės valstybės raida išlieka inertiška, nors finansavimo sąlygos įstojus į ES iš tiesų gerėjo. Be to, palyginti su gretimomis ES šalimis narėmis, skiriama mažiau dėmesio toms gerovės politikoms, kurios galėtų duoti didžiausią „investicinę grąžą“. Taip pat labiau orientuojamasi į tretinį paslaugų lygmenį. Tokia situacija pirmiausia aiškintina trimis veiksniais: ekonominio saugumo prioriteto išlaikymu, partine poliarizacija ir istorine logika, kurią diktuoja jau susiklostę galios santykiai.

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Straipsnyje lyginamos Lietuvos ir Estijos sveikatos apsaugos sistemos. Įvertinamas jų istorinis kontekstas, aprašoma raida po nepriklausomybės atkūrimo, pateikiami duomenys, kaip paskirstomi sveikatos apsaugos ištekliai ir kokie šių sistemų veiklos rezultatai. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad, nepaisant panašių istorinių ir ekonominių sąlygų, pokomunistinė Lietuvos ir Estijos sveikatos apsaugos raida skiriasi. Nors ir yra finansuojama panašiu lygiu, Estijos sveikatos apsauga daugeliu svarbių aspektų pranoksta Lietuvos (ir Latvijos) sveikatos apsaugą. Argumentuojama, kad esminį poveikį Baltijos šalių sveikatos apsaugos tendencijų išsiskyrimui turėjo priimti sprendimai dėl sveikatos sistemos finansavimo ir valdymo ankstyvuoju pokomunistinės transformacijos laikotarpiu.

Straipsnio tikslas – aptarti Vidurio ir Rytų Europos pokomunistinių valstybių transformacijos problematiką ir tolesnę jų raidą Europos Sąjungoje. Pirmiausia aptariamas pokomunistinės transformacijos fenomenas, jo vidinė logika ir priežastys, nulėmusios skirtingus pokomunistinių šalių raidos būdus. Antrojoje straipsnio dalyje dėmesys skiriamas į ES įstojusių pokomunistinių valstybių raidai. Išskiriami svarbiausi iššūkiai valstybingumui, su kuriais susiduria šalys, pasirinkusios Europos integracijos kelią. Įvertinama, kaip, praėjus penkeriems metams nuo narystės ES pradžios, sekasi šiuos iššūkius įveikti. Teigiama, kad, pagal dabartines raidos tendencijas, galima kalbėti apie ryškėjančią pusiau branduolio ir pusiau periferinių Vidurio ir Rytų Europos valstybių skirtį. Šis pasidalijimas gali turėti reikšmingų padarinių tolesnei šio regiono raidai.

Acta Technologica Agriculturae 1/2016Dušan Páleš et al.The most effective way for determination of curves for practical use is to use a set of control points. These control points can be accompanied by other restriction for the curve, for example boundary conditions or conditions for curve continuity (Sederberg, 2012). When a smooth curve runs only through some control points, we refer to curve approximation. The B-spline curve is one of such approximation curves and is addressed in this contribution. A special case of the B-spline curve is the Bézier curve Rédl et al., 2014). The B-spline curve is applied to a set of control points in a space, which were obtained by measurement of real vehicle movement on a slope (Rédl, 2007(Rédl, , 2008. Data were processed into the resulting trajectory (Rédl, 2012;Rédl and Kučera, 2008). Except for this, the movement of the vehicle was simulated using motion equations (Rédl, 2003;Rédl and Kročko, 2007). B-spline basis functionsBézier basis functions known as Bernstein polynomials are used in a formula as a weighting function for parametric representation of the curve (Shene, 2014). B-spline basis functions are applied similarly, although they are more complicated. They have two different properties in comparison with Bézier basis functions and these are: 1) solitary curve is divided by knots, 2) basis functions are not nonzero on the whole area. Every B-spline basis function is nonzero only on several neighbouring subintervals and thereby it is changed only locally, so the change of one control point influences only the near region around it and not the whole curve.These numbers are called knots, the set U is called the knot vector, and the half-opened interval 〈u i , u i + 1 ) is the i-th knot span. Seeing that knots u i may be equal, some knot spans may not exist, thus they are zero. If the knot u i appears p times, hence u i = u i + 1 = ... = u i + p -1 , where p >1, u i is a multiple knot of multiplicity p, written as u i (p). If u i is only a solitary knot, it is also called a simple knot. If the knots are equally spaced, i.e. (u i + 1 -u i ) = constant, for every 0 ≤ i ≤ (m -1), the knot vector or knot sequence is said uniform, otherwise it is non-uniform.Knots can be considered as division points that subdivide the interval 〈u 0 , u m 〉 into knot spans. All B-spline basis functions are supposed to have their domain on 〈u 0 , u m 〉. We will use u 0 = 0 and u m = 1.To define B-spline basis functions, we need one more parameter k, which gives the degree of these basis functions. Recursive formula is defined as follows:This definition is usually referred to as the Cox-de Boor recursion formula. If the degree is zero, i.e. k = 0, these basis functions are all step functions that follows from Eq. (1). N i, 0 (u) = 1 is only in the i-th knot span 〈u i , u i + 1 ). For example, if we have four knots u 0 = 0, u 1 = 1, u 2 = 2 and u 3 = 3, knot spans 0, 1 and 2 are 〈0, 1), 〈1, 2) and 〈2, 3), and the basis functions of degree 0 are N 0, 0 (u) = 1 on interval 〈0, 1) Acta In this co...

After more than a decade when a 'third wave of democratization' struck Central Eastern Europe and post-soviet space, the question is being raised regarding whether the transitional paradigm, shaped two decades ago, did not loose its theoretical and methodological capability? Does it manage to explain the political development of countries in a post communist state and especially in post soviet space? The classical paradigm of transitology is characterized as having the following traits: (1) an aim to create a universal theory of democratization and the ability to explain processes of democratization in different social contexts; (2) the conviction that democratization is a one-way and gradual process of several phases; (3) an emphasis that the single crucial factor for democratic transition is a decision by the political elite, and not structural features; and (4) the normative belief of neoliberal nature, that the consolidation of the institute of democratic elections and other reforms of its own accord establish effectively functioning states. This article analyses problems that appeared applying the perspective of transitology for post soviet regime change analysis and critics, shaped on these grounds. The aim is to evaluate the contemporary models of post soviet transitology that emphasize questions of state autonomy and power, examine the interaction of formal and informal institutions, use the concept of 'path dependence', and explain the different results of democratization in post soviet countries. This article will be using an example of Russia to formulate general statements that would contribute to the building of the theory of post soviet change, as well as the practical findings.

The paper focuses on the variation of institutional confi dence in the Baltic countries. Within of framework of qualitative comparative framework, it employs a historical approach to detect causes of divergence of trust in rule of law institutions between Estonia vis -à-vis other two Baltic states. While it observes a range of variables that could aff ect the diff erences, it emphasises the role of political leadership during critical junctures, which might explain both why Estonia forged ahead at the outset of the post -communist transformation and most recent positive developments in the Baltic countries since the fi nancial crisis in 2008-2010.