Klaipėdos universitetas

This paper contains an assessment of the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Spain through administrative

Vis daugiau politinių santvarkų įgauna hibridiškumo požymių, o sprendimų priėmimo ir atskaitomybės visuomenei ratui siaurėjant,

The European Union data surveys give evidence of the growing trend of population ageing in the Member States. The aim of the study was to analyse the social structure of population in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in comparison with the average population in the EU-27 and present recommendations for policy makers for further improvement of the social policy development in these countries. The authors used monographic method to study theoretical aspects of society aging and welfare and statistical data analysis of secondary data aggregated by Eurostat reports, Eurobarometer survey and databases of national institutions. The analysis of the society aging indicators in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland clearly shows that the policy makers of these countries so far have been mainly focusing on unpopular measures – either increasing taxes or raising the retirement age, which have caused citizens’ dissatisfaction with the existing social policy that does not provide any hopes for the existing and becoming pensioners to approximate to successful aging. The authors consider that the national institutions responsible for society’s welfare issues should further encourage socially innovative solutions by finding unusual ideas for obtaining multidimensional support, including the assistance provided by policy-makers and involving local agents to enhance inclusion of the aged population in the labour market, especially in creating jobs for themselves, being able to retain employment as temporary workers or being encouraged to work in other professions.

Welfare in its narrow understanding means the state’s material help given to the members of society. It also may be understood as the whole of the state’s activities aimed at multi-level support for various social groups. The aim of this paper is to show different elements of material help given to society by the state which help society to meet social security. Also, the findings based on some examples of the current Polish history show how this kind of state’s support may help politicians to gain success in elections. The author argues that the same reality, i.e., social help, may be used for people’s welfare, however, it may be also used to obtain political goals. It must be noticed that using welfare for political goals often happens the situation when electoral promises are not necessary implemented after a particular party wins the election. To achieve the main purpose of this research the method of analysis was applied. Today, welfare can be used in both ways – as a form of ensuring the social safety of society and as an effective and successful tool in election campaigns.

The purpose of the article is to present the results of an empirical study on the level of social integration of internally displaced persons in the host community. Social integration is seen as an active process involving both parties: migrants and the host population. The process is continuous, so the focus is on the degree of integration of internally displaced persons, reflected at three levels, high, medium and low. The degree of social integration of IDPs in the local community is an aggregate indicator of socio-economic, socio-psychological, cultural-communicative and socio-political elements. The study applied a set of standardised methods, as well as correlation, factor and variance analysis (Fisher’s criterion). The results show a positive tendency for integration by the vast majority of internally displaced persons who participated in the study: only 26 respondents (12.9%) had a low level, 121 respondents (60.2%) had a medium level, and 54 respondents had a high level (26.9%).