Lietuvos vietos savivaldos sistemos raida nuo 1990 metų iki šių dienų
Evolution of Lithuaniain local self-government system from 1990 till nowadays

Summary/Abstract: 1. Lithuania is a count r y that has deep roots of local self–government. This forms the historical heritage of Lithuanian local self-government. This heritage lies in the nation’s memory and continues to influence the local­ governmental awareness of Lithuanian people and public policy makers. This heritage has been having an impact on the development of the local self-governmental system in Lithuania since 1990. 2. The period from 1990 to this day is an interesting, meaningful and significant period for the evolution of local self­-government in Lithuania. During this period, after 50 years of being only a supplement to the central state government and an obedient executor of the state policy shaped by it, the local governmental system, varied with sham local democracy elements, has been transformed into a modern, Western–type democratic local self–governmental system. 3. The events that have taken place during this period and the nature of these events provide reasonable grounds to divide the period from 1990 to the present day into three stages with regards to the evolution of local self–government : a) 1990–1995, b) 1995–2000 and c) since 2000. 4. The first stage (1990–1995) was difficult, complex and contradictory. During the first stage the evolution process of the local self-governmental system took place in two directions: 1) abrogating the old (Soviet, socialist) local governmental system and creating a new (democratic, Western­ type) local self­-governmental system in compliance with the provisions of the Law on the Fundamentals on Local Government adopted on the 12th of February 1990 and 2) learning from the past mistakes; analysing the experience accumulated by other countries; searching and selecting a local self–government organization model which would be most suitable for Lithuania as well as of the count r y (a group of countries) the best practice of which could be used in a creative manner. 5. During the first stage (1990–1995) for some reasons, the development of a new (democratic, Western­ type) local self­-governmental system in Lithuania was not consistent and as successful as it sought to. Lithuania was “gradually” returning to the former times of the centralized management. Fortunately, the return to the former times was stopped by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania which was adopted by the people’s referendum of 25 October 1992 and entered into force on 6 November 1992.

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