Increasing Governance Capacity and Governance Legitimacy. A Case Study of the Lithuanian Crisis Management System.

Abstract: In 2022, the Government of Lithuania approved the new Crisis Management and Civil Safety law to establish the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC). This thesis was written during the initial phase of the NCMC creation process. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the Lithuanian governance capacity and legitimacy within the emergency and crisis management (CM) system and investigate the focus areas for more efficient CM performance. The primary data for this case study was collected through 12 semi-structured interviews. Three main theories are used in this thesis: complexity theory, governance capacity and governance legitimacy. Some of the key findings of this thesis are: Governance capacity: In daily and crisis communication, top-down communication and decision-making processes are used. The analytical capacity needs to be improved in the Lithuanian CM system. Governance legitimacy: Overall, the general public and public employees trust the CM system. However, the interviewees have high hopes for what the centre must achieve, and the public tends to be critical towards politicians and decisions made. Factors that can increase governance capacity are the encouragement of informal networks and encouragement of bottom-up communication, collaboration, and involvement of the tactical level in the decision-making process. Factors that can help maintain and possibly increase governance legitimacy are honesty, transparency, consistency, and openness. All the listed factors should be considered with complexity in mind. The NCMC has to decide on how and who should be included in the different processes in the way they can manage them.