On the Lithuanian social policy model and factors influencing it

Abstract

There is a lack of attempts to typify the Lithuanian social security system and to define its entirety rather than components in both national and foreign literature. A comprehensive system analysis of the Lithuanian social security system, comparing it to theory and practice of social security in some other countries, forms a methodological basis for this paper. The purpose of the paper is to describe the Lithuanian social policy model in the context of social policy models of European countries. The tasks of the paper include 1) making an overview of formation and implementation of social policy in Lithuania since restoration of its independence and presenting a structure of the social security system; 2) identifying the role of individual political parties in the process of formation of social policy; and 3) defining the peculiarity of the Lithuanian social security system and social policy.
The paper has been written employing the methods of research literature and metaanalysis. In his analysis as well as in making up a list of references pertaining to the problem of modelling of the Lithuanian social policy, the author attempted to lean, to the largest extent possible, upon the literature on social security by Lithuanian authors and foreign authors published in the English language. It should be noted that such publications are still quite scarce for the purposes of a more in-depth analysis of the subject.