Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

Millenialls currently are one of the largest members of the age cohorts performing military service among the world armies, also in the armed forces of Lithuania. The expectations of Millenialls individuals are far more individualistic compared to previous generations: generation X, baby boomers. Researches show that millennials more often quit their jobs if the content of jobs do not meet their individual expectations. The vast majority of early military retirees in the Lithuanian armed forces belong to the category of junior officers (senior lieutenants and captains). The aim of this research is to reveal the value features of the social integration of the individuals of the millennium generation (officers, non-commissioned officers) serving in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The research is done by qualitative research method using a semistructural interview approach- a total of 22 informants were interviewed. The study shows that these sociocultural aspects are condition of social inclusion in the organization (or allienation): the importance of self-realization (more important than career) versus unfulfilled expectations in military service, individual expression versus restriction of individual expression, the importance of favorable conditions to be creative versus meaningless content of the service. This study shows what socio-cultural challenges are relevant when talking about the integration of people today in the Lithuanian Armed Forces and that the socio-cultural content of military service will be increasingly significant and relevant in the future.

New ways of communication open up new possibilities to understand groups, organizations and leaders. Leaders lead groups and organizations thus groups and organizations are reflections of their identity. The way people communicate in a group or organization reflects of how the members see themselves in the organization. Identity of each member is expressed by his or her self-perception, self-image, self-reputation, self-competences thus is not only recognized by others, but each member recognizes the others’ too. As the dynamic context of reality leads to one or another type of interrelations as well as it inevitably impacts leadership practices at organization therefore research of reciprocity between leaders and other members at organizations is very important and timely. It is significant to research how people communicate to develop and maintain certain reciprocity and exactly how much, observing their interaction, could be possible to describe the environment and the people themselves. The research findings indicate that new paradigm leadership should be perceived as dynamic process resulting from interaction of people within organization and is clearly dependent on the context, and even more – on each participant identity expressed by self-competencies and on people’s relations.

Institutional identity is probably seen as the best and the only effective way for dealing with the uncertainties of postmodern society. The theory of institutional identity as positive interaction and development of personal and social identities and the foundation of self-image and self-esteem is especially important in the context of military organization. Defining or redefining the identity and its role in contemporary society has become the priority for the scientist. Mutable character of postmodern identity and identities’ diversity put to inconvenience the traditional understanding of this phenomenon. The phenomenon of postmodern identity has brought some difficulties into creation of universal concept of institutional identity. Institutional identity of the Armed Forces is reasoned by the postmodern transformations of the society. Transformations in the Armed Forces (changes in mission, structure, woman’s role, etc.) have shifted traditional identity of the militaries toward contemporary society: i.e. it has become multidimensional and fragmented. The process of creation of institutional identity in the Armed Forces should be based on peculiarities of postmodern individuals: rational way of thinking and their self-esteem.

The objective of the research is to define the development of constitutionalism and socio-cultural challenges related to the formation process of the European Union’s legal identity. To achieve this goal, the concept of constitutionalism and its changes during the period of the European Union’s development are examined. Tendencies of the European Union Member States’ constitutionalism process are analysed and socio-cultural tensions of the formation of the contemporary European Union’s legal identity, which arise between security and freedom, order and justice and government and society are identified. The article states that the sustainability of public democratic processes and the functioning of the European Union is possible only if the constitutional values are protected. The reseach also reveals that the further evolution of European constitutionalism and legal identity still needs to enhance the development of the rules which could influence the creation and activities of the independent, self-governing EU’s political community.