Išorės ekspertų vaidmuo politinių partijų veikloje: Lietuvos Respublikos liberalų sąjūdžio atvejo analizė ; The role of external experts in the activities of political parties: case analysis of liberals’ movement of the Republic of Lithuania

The functioning of the state and the daily life of its citizens greatly depends on policymaking. In Lithuania, a free and democratic political system is relatively new. However, it can be said that political parties are one of the main political actors both in Lithuania and in democratic European or other states. Despite this many other actors, sometimes invisible, participate in the political processes too. Among those one can cite non-governmental organisations (NGOs), interest groups, think tanks, media and other external actors. In Western Europe external political experts have increasingly more influence on not only political decisions, but also what political parties communicate to their electorate and how they construe their programmes and strategies. One can witness this more and more often in the political arena of Lithuania too. The problem of the research is how can external experts influence the inner processes of parties and fulfil their functions? In this way subject of study is Liberals’ Movement of the Republic of Lithuania (LRLS) and the external experts that influence it. This study aim is to analyse the role of external experts in the running of LRLS. And there are four main objectives of the research. Firstly to discuss the concept of political parties, their function and role in the political system and determine what the external actors that participate in the political process are. Secondly to analyse the legal regulatory framework of political parties. Also to analyse the organisational structure of LRLS and define the position and function of external experts in the party. And finally to determine how and to what extent external experts participate in the creation of the party‘s electoral programme and its electoral campaign. The study results revealed what role the external experts take in the inner workings of LRLS.