Acknowledging the importance of society’s resilience in crises management, scholars at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities of KTU will explore how citizenship and citizen science can improve the resilience of society to geopolitical threats.
“Societal resilience is defined as the ability of a community or a society to be resilient to any adverse occurrences, and to be able to adapt to it as well as recover; however, the resilience of Lithuania’s society is not researched enough,” says Eglė Butkevičienė, professor at Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities of KTU, and the head of the project.
Professor notices that the project aims to actualise the role of society and citizen science in strengthening society’s and communities’ resilience to sociopolitical threats because the quality and the stability of modern democracy not only depend on its structure but also on its citizens, their capacity, education, respect for democratic values and participation in supporting democracy.
According to the professor, democratic processes are impossible without actively involving society in governance; therefore, this project will explore peoples’ attitudes and behaviour patterns towards citizenship, active involvement in politics, social life, and citizen science: “The transparency of local authorities when providing the conditions for the participation of citizens will also be explored.”
When talking about the transparency of the authorities, professor Butkevičienė mentions that it shouldn’t be perceived only directly. Both local and public authorities should be interested in engaging their citizens in decision-making processes through various democratic initiatives.
The project’s scholar at KTU Vytautas Valentinavičius notices that a survey, conducted by “Baltijos tyrimai” in 2022, discloses that even 62 percent of Lithuania’s citizens are not satisfied with democracy; therefore, the commitment to their community, engagement in public life and politics, as well as social responsibility and respect for democratic values is not sustainable. This becomes even more relevant in the context of today’s threats to national security.
“The Democracy Sustainability Barometer is published annually by the Eastern European Study Centre. Their study of 2023 showed that there is a correlation between the depreciation of the democracy sustainability index and society’s lack of trust in public institutions and the dissatisfaction with democratic processes in Lithuania, especially the way how said institutions are serving the community,” says the scholar. Valentinavičius notices that the project will also include research on participatory agenda-setting, which focuses on the involvement of the public in political agenda-setting and participation in decision-making processes.
“Focusing on the role of citizenship and citizen science in strengthening the transparency of local authorities, one will contribute to the development of more democratic, fairer, and more efficient politics and decisions that can result in a more resilient society,” says Valentinavičius.
According to professor Butkevičienė, the team of scholars—after carrying out the research—will provide recommendations for local and national public-service institutions on how citizenship and citizen science can strengthen the resilience of Lithuania’s society and communities to sociopolitical threats.
This article was prepared in the framework of the research project “Strengthening Resilience in Communities and Society Through Citizen Science and Citizenship (RECONECT)”, (project S-VIS-23-14). This research is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL) as part of the competitive program “Increasing Resilience of Society and Management of Crises in the Context of the Contemporary Geopolitical Events.“
