Government-community conflict : the Lithuanian public governance challenge

Abstract

Over the past decade Lithuanian government has undertaken a series of steps at reforming public administration. Particularly notable are initiatives attempting to increase citizen participation in local policy inspired by the New Public Governance ideology and EU subsidiarity principle. A range of tools have been introduced to aid local community formation and participation. However, both the communities and municipalities (which ended up managing these instruments) transcended the intended roles set out for them by these schemes and have taken a on a life of their own. This often leads to resistance to government policy initiatives rather than participation.