Conscription in Lithuania
摘要
The aim of the chapter is to describe the conscription system of Lithuania by highlighting issues under debates among politicians, decision makers, scientists, and the wider society. It starts from a historical development of conscription in the country, considering political, socio-demographic and other important contexts. Further, the chapter provides a description of the current conscription system: what conditions should be fulfilled to be accepted as conscript, what are the service duration, etc. An analysis of the latter is mostly based on legal documents. Then, the chapter presents selected results of previous surveys. In summary, Lithuania has a long history of conscription. The current conscription system was constructed on the edge of modern and post-modern times. It is updated and innovative and gets positive evaluations from society. But still, the conscription system faces challenges. The main ones nowadays are the demographic situation within the country (low fertility and high rates of emigration), youth health, gender roles’ stereotypes, youth motivation and willingness to defend the Homeland as well as the burden to fund a highly trained and professional conscription system in a small country.