Some thoughts on the harmonization of law in the context of cultural diversity

Significant changes in the socio-economic life of Eastern European countries and the Balkan region in the last decades bring new challenges for the national lawmakers in the area of lawmaking. They are faced with a dilemma on how to find a proper balance between national laws and international laws, how to deal with historical issues in lawmaking procedures, how to accept new values, ideas but at the same time not to put in danger local customs, traditions, culture, to preserve them. Eastern European countries including former Soviet Republics have already experienced a line of consequences of unconsidered during the implementation of the economic reforms after the collapse of the centrally administered economies such as: high rates of joblessness and crime, organized crime and corruption threats, and finally formation of oligarchic clans in some countries, their influence on country's political and economic life. In the last decade of the 21st century, we have witnessed a rapid invasion of the harmonization of law into criminal justice areaViešosios teisės katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta