Social Vulnerability and Trust in the Government: The Case of Social Resilience in Lithuania

Societal resilience to hybrid threats is a complex phenomenon associated not only with social, economic, and demographic characteristics (Antronico et al. 2020; Cox, 2023) but also with trust in national institutions and citizens' willingness to defend their country (Falk, 2020). However, in recent years the level of poverty risk and income inequality has remained high in Lithuania. High income inequality is related to the decreasing political participation of the population (Skučienė, 2008), as well as increasing dissatisfaction and disappointment with the state (Skučienė, Kaminaitė, 2017; Skučienė et al. 2018). Unevenly distributed resources lead to unequal opportunities and increase social opposition (Misiūnas, Bratčikovienė, 2007).

The research aims to analyze the relation of social vulnerability and trust, satisfaction in the government decision-making in various social (e.g. income inequality, poverty, unemployment) and others economic and defence (support to Ukraine, economic sanctions to Russia) problems solving. Social vulnerable population is understood in this research as social benefits receivers, unemployed, pensioners, also those with incomes below the poverty line.

The research methodology includes a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods: interview, public survey. For the implementation of the research aim the representative survey in 2024 data of Lithuanian population and interview data with 50 social vulnerable persons was used. Also, the interpretation of the data is added by the statistical information from Eurostat and Eurobarometer.

The initial results show that the persons of the mentioned social groups tend to doubt the decisions of the government related to the application of economic sanctions to Russia, support to Ukraine, etc. Also, they are much more likely to think that social and other problems are poorly solved in the state. It is assumed that such attitudes may be related to propaganda used by Russia, as well as to the influence of various sources of disinformation.