Political Science

An Evaluation of Financial Issues Involved
Ruritania is one of the democratic nations situated in Eastern Europe.  Through this report, an attempt has been made to evaluate the significance of the proposal of  making investments in opening up a new manufacturing unit in Ruritania.  This being the first opportunity for the company to make a foreign investment, holds great importance for the company. Performance in this venture could decide the path for the organisation in becoming a multinational organisation from being a domestic company  as of today.  Expansion and globalisation  of this sort has its own advantages as well as challenges.

Advantages include comparative cost advantage in terms of labour cost, material cost, transportation cost, etc. Tax benefits received in destination countries is another advantage. Financial diversification in terms of spreading the firms risk over larger number of nations rather than limiting it to just one nation  is yet another motivation for acquiring a multinational character by a company. Moreover the  company hopes to establish a profound presence in the region through this project. The company would also be in a position to deny the markets to the companys global competitors.

However such investments  also has some problems in the areas of capital budgeting decisions, which are seldom encountered in domestic enterprises. International firms have to deal with various issues among others, such as exchange rate risk, expropriation risk, blocked funds, foreign tax regulations, political risk, differences between basic business risks of foreign and domestic projects, FDI allowance regulations, tariff  non tariff trade barriers posed by the target nation, monetary policy of the country, remittance limits set by the country, country risk or sovereign risk, corruption level in the country, costs of sustainability goal obligations if any, set by the government of the country, interest risk on loans taken both domestically as well as internationally, market risk, risks arising due to violence, agitations, unrests, environmental calamities and others.

The choice of eastern Europe as a destination for expansion, needs to be studied. Other developed export driven economies like Germany  France already rely heavily on the eastern European countries to satisfy their globalisation aspirations. This however has added pressure on these not yet developed economies. Vistesen and Hugh (2009) point out that an extraordinarily high inward flow of funds into these countries in the form of FDI, combined with a high outflow of labour through migration leads to the incapability of these countries in catering to the rising credit driven consumer demand and high growth rate needs particularly due to the lack of enough labour supply. Therefore before investing in these countries, it is important to predict whether these nations would be able to deal with this peculiar situation.

The concerned data available for these economies (International Monetary Fund 2009) have been tabulated as below.
Data for 2008Size of GDP
(Billions US )GDP annual percent growth rateGDP per capita ()Rate of InflationMajor trade partnersCountriesArmenia11.916.78 3684.555.2 Germany, Netherland, Belgium, RussiaAzerbaijan46.37811.63 5349.39115.4 Italy, Czech Republic, UK, RussiaBelarus60.30210.02 6234.68613.3 Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, UK.Bulgaria49.9046.01 6560.7237.18 Germany, Turkey, Italy, Greece.Georgia12.8642.06 2923.5455.55 CIS countries, TurkeyMaldova6.0477.2 1692.5477.3 Russia, Romania, Ukraine, GermanyRomania200.0747.1 9310.3866.3 EU, Russia, ChinaUkraine179.6042.1 3909.87322.34 EU, CIS, China, USRuritania-3.2 -5.2 -

From the above table we can observe that the GDP growth rate of Ruritania at 3.2  is lower than all of its neighbours excepting that  of Ukraine and Georgia. Its inflation rate at 5.2  is also lower than the average of the countries of the region.  However, the recent recession has turned the picture, and fast growing economies have shown deeper signs of recession in 2009.  We may conclude that Ruritania has not yet fully exploited its potential if it has any,  and these figures must be taken into account while reaching to any decision about making investments in Ruritania. Moreover UK is a major trade partner for most of the nations in the region.

It is pertinent to note that Ruritanias government is systematically doing enough groundwork by pegging the Crown with a major currency at this point of time. Its intention to join Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM 2) would link Crown to the Euro, thus helping the European Union to evaluate the proposed inclusion of Ruritania into the Eurozone. Inclusion of Ruritania in the Eurozone, would mean having a free access to the markets of Ruritania which would prove to be a great boon to the company in the event of the company having a manufacturing facility in the country.

In spite of the evident bright future prospects,  it would be prudent if several other factors were taken into  consideration before going ahead with the investment

Incremental Cash Flows  Any project has its cash outflows and inflows. In order that a foreign capital budgeting project be evaluated correctly, it is important to calculate the incremental Cash Flows After Taxes (CFAT) that the project eventually has. This incremental CFAT is distinct from total CFAT and essentially involves the use of cash outflows and inflows, that can be exclusively and wholly identified with the proposed project. Thus the firms profits should be reduced with decrease in the cash profits due to decrease in export sales of the parent company, costs of technology transfer, shipping charges, custom duties, training costs, repatriation costs, and opportunity costs involved. On the other hand, dividends received from the subsidiary, management fees, royalties received, increase in cash profits of the parent company due to the increase in export sales to the subsidiary and others should be added to this amount to arrive at the correct decision.

Transfer Pricing policies  This area needs great emphasis and diligence because of the complex set of interests involved in this type of a decision. Factors influencing transfer pricing include, minimising income taxes, achieving goal congruence, tariffs and customs duties levied on imports of products into a country,  restrictions that some countries place on dividend or income related payments to parties outside their national borders (Horngren, Datar and Foster 2006, p.776). In countries having high income taxes, and high restrictions on profit repatriation to outside countries, subsidiaries may keep the prices of their products low while selling to the parent company.  This would also help minimise import duties and tariff payments of the parent company if such duties levied  in home country of the parent company are too high. Prices can be kept high for products of subsidiaries located in countries having low income taxes, and minimum restrictions on repatriation amounts. This would help minimise income taxes paid by the parent company. However, performance measurement and evaluation goals for motivating management effort in the subsidiary as well as parent company must also be factored in while making a transfer pricing decision. There is a high possibility of all these motives conflicting with each other.

FDI allowance regulations  Each country has its own policy regarding the way it wants the businesses in its economy to function. Those leaning towards a communist ideology tend to have more and more industries in government control. These countries do not allow much foreign capital invested in the country to retain ownership of its assets. Similarly conservative economies and economies who are at nascent stages of opening up prefer to keep the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at the minimum possible level. It should be gauged whether Ruritania will continue to allow same or even increasing levels of FDI in their county in the coming future.    

Tariff  non tariff trade barriers  Nations employ various barriers or hurdles on imports as well as exports in their countries to curtail trade in certain industries, products or services. This is done either to protect domestic companies in fierce competition from the global players, to give boost to domestic companies in order to reach them to a comparatively advantageous positions in the global competition, or to harm the interests of the foreign companies.  Such trade barriers can be tariff or non tariff. Tariff barriers include levying of import and custom duties, excise duties, cesses etc. Non tariff barriers include lengthy registration and documentation procedures, quantitative restrictions, standard requirements, subsidies, legislations and others which cut on the profits of the foreign players. The members of the EU when faced with such trade barriers are expected to register a complaint on the Complaints register section of the Market Access Database website of the European Union Commission at  HYPERLINK httpwww.mkaccdb.eu www.mkaccdb.eu .  

Monetary policy of the country  Depending upon the condition of the economy of a country and the ideology of the ruler of the government of a nation, the countrys central bank may have a tighter or lenient monetary policy.  Monetary policy directly influences the bank  interest rates, inflation rate,  money supply in the market of the country and such other major determinants of volume of business in the economy.  Knowledge of the generally pursued monetary policy in Ruritania would make the company more equipped to take a right decision.  

Repatriation of Profits  remittance limits set by the country  Small economies and  conservative economies tend to place restrictions on the volume of profits that can be repatriated to the home country.  Limited foreign currency reserves, need for making funds available for the development of the country, increasing the supply of money in the domestic markets to curtail inflation, could be the reasons behind such restrictions. These restrictions reduce the amount of funds repatriated to the parent company  and in effect it adversely impacts the profitablity of the parent company.  Effective Transfer pricing policy, loan repayments, fees and royalty payment adjustments, are the tools to deal with such situations. However such restrictions should not be worrying for this company if it plans to continue to expand its business  in Ruritania over a long term period.    

Capital Structure  financing methods available  At the outset, the company will have to decide the capital structure of the manufacturing facility in Ruritania. It has to decide the percentage of total capital that it is going to invest itself, that it is going to raise from the public through sale of shares, that it is going to raise from the banks, and other financial institutions. Money can also be raised through ECBs in the form of buyers credit, suppliers credit, floating rates notes, fixed interest bonds and others.  Other long term primary instruments are Foreign Currency Bonds (FCCBs), American Global Depository receipts Cerificates (ADRsGDRs) (Khan  and Jain 2007, p.36.26).  

Having done preliminary study of the micro and macro economic conditions for the business in Ruritania, it would now become important to get aquainted with the various risks involved in the investment. Risks faced in international businesses have more dimensions alongwith those faced in the domestic business.  

Interest rate risk This risk occurs in the situation when company has borrowed from various domestic  international lenders, and interest rates fluctuate in a very volatile environment. This risk can be mitigated by trading surplus funds in debt market.

Country risk or sovereign risk  This form of risk arises out of the very existence of the subsidiary in a foreign country.  The government of the host country may take actions such as prohibiting remittance  to a particular country or in a particular currency due to foreign currency shortages and adverse political events.  In order to predict such a risk, issues such as trade policy, fiscal stance ( deficit or surplus ) of the government, government intervention  in the economy, its monetary policy, capital flows and foreign investment, inflation, structure of the financial system and political stability history and others must be studied (Saunders and Cornett 2007, p.564). An extention of this form of risk would be Expropriation risk and political risk. Political risk may be mild interference or even reach upto complete confiscation of all assets termed as expropriation risk.  Mild interference would include law making it mandatory to employ nationals at important positions or upto a percentage of total labour force, to invest in environmental and social projects, and restricting currency convertibility etc.

Corruption Level in the country  High corruption level in many countries make it unviable to do business in those countries, even if all other conditions and regulations are favourable.  So a company must always be aware of the levels of corruption in a country before entering into the foray.

Exchange rate risk  Any business indulging in international trade and business inherently face foreign exchange risk. The business charges its clients and customers in one currency. If that currency fluctuates unfavourably drastically after an agreement or commitment has been made in relation to supplying of goods, the company has to bear the losses to the tune of number of goods times the difference that occurred in the exchange rate of the currencies. In case of such drastic changes, a profitable project might turn unviable overnight.  Hence stability in the value of currency is of utmost importance. Ruritania does not have a long history of exchange rate stability. Stability over a period of eighteen months does not warranty anything about the future. Hence it is worth mentioning that the decision of investing in Ruritania is challengeable on the grounds of high level of  foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange risk can however be mitigated by hedging.  On- balance sheet hedging involves making changes in the balance sheet assets and liabilities whereas off - balance sheet hedging involves taking a position in forward or other derivative securities  (Saunders and Cornett 2007, p.238).

Apart from these risks, there are also risks arising due to possibilities of violence, agitations, unrests among the people of the host nation or possible environmental calamities in risk prone countries.  Market risk arising out of fluctuating prices of the companys products due to fluctuations in overall demand and supply of the particular product in the economy  should also be considered while devising the business plan.

Other Considerations
Performance measurement in Multinational Corporations  becomes complicated because of the various inherent differences between economic, social and business environments across these countries.  The commonly used ROI method of evaluating and comparing performances of the units and managers suffers from inefficiency because of the foreign exchange fluctuations. To get a true picture therefore, historical cost based ROIs of units in different countries should be compared instead of current cost values, because they negate the effects of any differences in inflation rates between the two countries. This should also be applied to the Residual Income method of performance measurement (Horngren,  Datar and Foster 2006, p.804). This method can however be used only for relatively newer organisations, as using historical values of the assets of older organisations would be misleading, they being irrelevant and insignificant as of today .

Other costs that can be incurred by the company in the course of its business such as legal costs for registration  and lisencing purposes, and in the event of any litigation should be taken into account.  Some governments may have mandatory laws regarding sustainablility goals to be achieved by businesses. Businesses would have to incur costs in order to install proper environment management systems in their units. Such and other such costs and risks if any must be considered at the time of preparing the budget for the new manufacturing facility in Ruritania.

Recommendations
From the above discussion we can conclude that the growth rate figures  of other nations in Eastern Europe are more attractive for doing business than Ruritania. Prospects of Ruritania entering the EU look good, but the business could face high foreign exchange risk which is indicated from the absence of long history of currency stability of the country.  Hence through this report, it is advised to the company to refrain from taking any hasty steps towards investment in Ruritania, and that a deeper study of the economy of the country needs to be done to verify the future prospects.

Besides  considering all the above issues, if a manufacturing facility is to be set up, a systematic procedure must be adopted to arrive at the decision on whether to venture into  such a particular International Capital Investment. The Net Present Value (NPV) of the Future Cash Flows after taxes (CFAT) that can be repatriated to the parent company must be calculated and the decision should be taken accordingly (Khan and Jain 2007, p.36.9).  The steps involve the following
Estimating cash outflows for undertaking said foreign investment in Sterling Pound.

Determining the expected incremental cash inflows after taxes (CFAT) mentioned earlier. This should be calculated  in terms of Crown.

Determining the expected repatriation of CFAT as per the regulations of the Government of Ruritania.

Deducting the withholding tax from expected repatriation. This amount so determined will be the amount available for repatriation to this company.

Converting the expected CFAT into Pounds at the future projected exchange rates.

Determining the Net Present Value (NPV) of the CFAT of the project by discounting it with the appropriate rate of return  cost of capital, also adjusted for the aforesaid risks that the proposed international project carries.

The project is accepted if the NPV calculated as above is positive. It should be rejected in case the NPV is negative.

All said and done, management decisions must always have an element of individual judgement in making any strategic level decisions. This report therefore calls upon the management to factor in all these issues as well as their judgement to devise a prudent strategy.

Sayyid Qutb is one of the most controversial but celebrated religious figures in the Muslim community today. He has contributed greatly to the understanding of Quran and his works are today highly regarded especially by traditional Muslims. The main theme of the writings of Sayyid was to fight against social injustices that he believed were being perpetrated by the liberal nationalists. Prior to becoming a fully committed Islam follower, Sayyid was a liberal nationalist who highly advocated for democracy and social and human rights of individuals. However, this changed after he experienced discrimination in the United States as well as the events of the Second World War. He felt that all human kind had deviated from the true rule of Allah and had instead begun adoring the westernization. His writings were thus founded on the call for Muslim brothers to arise and practice jihadism that he felt was the only way of reaching all humans around the world. Much of his writings are backed up by the Quran and this has made them very powerful even today among the Muslims. He never advocated for terrorism or killing innocent people but rather for the stoppage of the same and for the upholding of human rights and social justices. However, much of his work has been highly demonized today with terrorist groups interpreting it wrongly and basing their actions on them.

Sayyid did not advocate for terrorism but rather for the upholding of social justices and human rights through practice of true Islam and jihadism. This paper will evaluate the life of Sayyid Qutb, his writings and contribution to Islamism and also evaluate how extremists have wrongly interpreted his work to fit into their own terrorism plans based on his ideologies. Furthermore, the paper will try to justify that jihadism advocated for by Sayyid does not translate to terrorism or even encourages it.

To fully understand the stance that Sayyid took while advancing his ideologies pertaining to jihadism and offensive war as opposed to defensive war or jihad, the paper will first evaluate his life and the various events and circumstances that shaped his believes and ideologies.

Sayyid was a theorist in the Islamic movement as well as the Muslim brotherhoods leader. He was highly opposed to Nassers secular Arab nationalism and this was the major reason why he was executed in the year 1966 after being accused of planning to overthrow the government of Egypt. Sayyid Qutb has continued to serve as one of the major Islamic intellectual and spiritual guides. His conception on Islamic region, its secular relation and modernity relativism have had great influence in the Muslim world, especially in Egypt where he was born, and other Arab countries. Most political movements with Islamic banners have been affected by the thoughts of Sayyid Qutb and antipathy to governments and states not being governed according to the revelation of God. One of the major reasons as to why the thoughts of Sayyid Qutb are today very influential is because of his ability to carefully integrate his thoughts with various sections of the Quran-the holy book of Muslims. This has had a very authoritative ring that could be heard very clearly by individuals who were being guided by tradition and not sexual nationalism. Quran is a major source of understanding and inspiration for Muslim faithful, especially those practicing the traditional Islam. Even before his pre-Islamic period, Sayyid Qutb had a great interest in Quran and this is evident in his later life, especially by his artistic Quran expression. The Quran was Sayyids proof to most of his ideas as well as last resort court.

Most of the works of Sayyid Qutb have been attributed with the rising terrorism acts around the world. Most authors and philosophers, especially in the western cultures, believe that Sayyid Qutb is the founding father of terrorism acts and the Muslim brotherhood movement associated with emergence of terrorism groups such as the Al Qaeda, associated with terrorism attacks of 911 bombing of the World Trade center in the United States. However, careful analysis of the works of Sayyid Qutb reveals that he was not advocating for terrorism but the subsequent interpretations of his work by individuals have contributed to increasing terrorism activities around the world. Terrorist groups have been interpreting the work wrongly to serve their own needs and desires.

Background of Sayyid Qutb and his ideologies
Sayyid Qutb was born in Egypt in the year of 1906. He was the first born in a family of five and his father was highly educated while his mother was a very religious person. Qutb is described to have had a formal relationship with his father, although his mother and the rest of their siblings were more affectionate and closer to him. His mother brought him up in a very religious way and by the time he was aged ten, Sayyid had memorized the entire Quran. In the year 1921, Sayyid traveled to Cairo and in the year 1929, he joined a teachers college where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education arts in 1933.

The most formative stage in the life of Qutb was the period between the years 1919 and 1952 following the rise of the independent Islamism in Egypt. This was a period that marked transition from the tradition Islam to modernity in Islamic culture. It was a colorful period that was marked by contradictions and vitality that inspired the ideas of Sayyid Qutb as well as his thoughts. This stage also marks the formative era for most contemporary thought, theater, cinema and literature in modern Egypt. The westernization process that had commenced in the early 19th century was beginning to fully manifest during this time from the form of governance that was in place to the very lives of Egyptians inclusive of Sayyids. The nation was dominated by secular educational structure that led to the widening gap between religious and secular education. Liberal nationalist forces that were operating in Egypt during this period were being inspired by the western countries and the liberals were gaining more strength during this period. This ultimately led to the introduction of a system of government that was being led by a parliament based on a constitution in the year 1923. Egypt was leaving their culture as well as intellectual life and openly mimicked the civilization of the western countries. As liberal nationalists continued to do so, Islamists became more violent leading to the polarization of the country.

Towards the mid 1930s, the reaction against the widespread and rapid westernization increased national movements in Arab west and Arab east. The establishment of a liberal nationalist failed to gain independence in Nile valley as well as to solve the pressing problems in the society. Sayyid Qutb was involved and was affected by this westernization as he viewed it as a deviation from the true worship of God alone. The Second World War had negative impacts on the economic, social and political life and ideologies of the Egyptians, further dividing the country and leading to alienation of ideal nationalists as well as liberal politicians. After the completion of the Second World War, Egypt slipped to a period of violence with law and order being broken. Social injustices increased within the country during this period. Nasser was presiding over the military revolt prior to the year 1952 for seven years and he was a tyrant. The country during this period was characterized by despair, grieve and anger towards the political institutions and the situation was made worse by the defeat Egypt suffered in Palestine war in the year 1948. Defeat in this war led to the defection of most camps of the Egyptians and the formation of two groups the Muslim brothers and the Marxists group that wanted to challenge the orders that were already in existence. This led to the transformation in the life of Sayyid Qutb as well as his thoughts and inspired much of his works that have raised much controversy today especially with increasing terrorist acts by the Muslim brothers groups believed to have been inspired and mentored by Sayyid.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Sayyid Qutb was a secular man and he only transformed in the later 1940s, becoming an Islamist. Prior to becoming an Islamist, Qutb was a poet and a man of letters. However, as explained earlier, the events of the Second World War and the subsequent defeat of Egypt in the Palestine war changed the focus of Sayyid on Quranic studies. He found refuge for his personal needs in Quran as well as answers to most of the social and human ills that were being perpetrated in the society. This made him forsake literature fully for Islamic cause and enabled him to pursue or lead an Islamic kind of life. Between the years 1948 and 1950, Sayyid was in the United States and the kind of racial segregation he received and observed only served to reinforce the believe that Islam was the only valid form of salvation that could rescue or save humanity from the godless materialism of communism and capitalism. He actively opposed the secular policies that were being practiced by Nasser who was then the president of Egypt and this made him be imprisoned between the years 1954 and 1964. It was while in prison that Qutb wrote some of his controversial writings in which he accused all governments and societies inclusive of Egypt as being pagan or Jahili. In his writings, Sayyid called for the removal of the societies and institution of governments or societies that were just and true Islamic. According to him, the world societies were not submissive to the will of God or the Hakimiyyah as explained in the idea of al-uzlah al-shuuriyyah or the separation of individuals via feelings. Shortly after his release from jail, Sayyid was rearrested and subsequently tried whereby he was charged with heading an underground apparatus. He was asked to apologize to President Nasser but he refused citing that God had prohibited people to apologize to tyrants. This eventually led to his execution in the year 1966. The execution of Qutb among others had no justification or logical explanation. In actual sense, President Nasser had no need of carrying out such executions for him to establish a firm foundation of his governance. He could have done that in the year 1954 when Sayyid and other members of Muslim brothers had tried to overthrow his government. Also, during this time, the political system of Egypt was firmly founded on its popularity among the citizens as well as politically. The economy of the country was also very stable at this time.

Despite the fact that President Nasser was able to physically eliminate Qutb, his ideas continued to flourish even more after his death. Sayyid was being viewed as a revolutionary and his execution was termed as martyrdom of his faith and his ideas. Without its knowledge, the Nassers regime led to the resurgence of the Islamic groups as well as the writings of Sayyid which he had written concerning jihadists. Jihadist had become common in Egypt and other parts of the world by this time, a concept that had been well expounded by Sayyid. According to the Quran, Muslim faithful ones were supposed to observe jihad, a concept or law that calls for defensive war with an aim of attaining righteousness. Sayyid was opposed to this concept arguing that it was the duty of all Muslims to arise and defend their cause and the injustices that were being perpetrated by the liberal nationalists or the democracies. Sayyid developed the concept of jihadism which advocated for offensive war as the only means of brining all mankind to the Islam culture and belief as a means of bringing peace to the world. Sayyid argued that social injustices like the ones he had experienced in the United States could only be eliminated if human kind was made to submit to the rule of God or Allah. He argued that defensive war could have not been effective in accomplishing this task given by God to all Muslims. In his writings, Sayyid stated that preaching Islam and physical war was the major avenues via which true jihadist could be achieved.

Methodology
Many scholars have looked and analyzed the writings of Sayyid Qutb over the past years. For this study, secondary sources will be used in gathering information pertaining to Sayyid Qutb and his ideologies of his writings. The secondary sources will include materials obtained from the websites, books and journals. Based on the information obtained, an analysis of the workings of Sayyid Qutb will be done on whether his writings really promote or advocate for terrorism or the Islamic era or not.

Differences between Islam and Islamism and their relation to global jihad
Islam is derived from an Arabic word meaning total submission and obedience to God or Allah. Over one and a half billion of people around the world are faithful of Islamic religion. In understanding the concept of terrorism and their beliefs, it is essential to understand the difference between Islam and Islamism religions. Unlike the Islam religion, the basic beliefs and creeds, Islamism also known as political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism refers to a political ideology that emphasizes on a particular way of living that is made up of social, political, economic and religious and other lifes spheres. Islamism highly advocates for the Islamic code or a Shariah based society that ought to replace the non Islamic and secular societies oriented or founded on governments that are governed by man-made laws. Followers of the Islamism also participate in political systems that are pluralistic in nature and also actively participate in democratic elections. Revolutionary and radical Islamism on the other hand, as well as the global jihadism, call for overthrowing of the secular regimes that they view as being infidel by whatever means even if it means use of force. Islamism aims at establishing Islamic societies that are based on Shariah law all over the world. Most of the terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda represent radical Islamism also known as global jihadism.

The only differences between Islam and radical Islamism are seen on the interpretation of the holy Qurans teachings and their applications. Understanding these two terms and categories of the Muslim religion is essential in effective and unbiased interpretation of the writings of Sayyid Qutb as well as terrorism. Jihad in Muslim religion can be translated to mean to endeavor, to exert oneself and to strive its verb is jahada which means to wage holy war against infidel or to fight for a cause while striving to go on the paths of Allah in spreading or preaching about Allah to the whole world and in making the world submit to the teachings of Allah. Prophet Mohammed in the holy Quran termed the greater jihad as the jihad by heart that aims at fighting the devil and all evil things in this world. Muslim jurists argue that jihad is a collective duty for the entire Muslim community with the faith being subject to aggression. The jihadists deviated from this believe arguing that jihad is a personal duty and also a collective obligation for all Muslims.

Sayyid Qutb is credited for advocating for jihadism through his writings. Traditionally, jihad was purely defensive in nature and not a personal commitment or duty of Muslim faithful but rather a collective duty for all Muslims. However, Sayyid felt that this interpretation of jihad was wrong hence he reinterpreted it to mean that jihad was a personal obligation as well as a community or collective duty of Muslims. Following this interpretation of jihad, Sayyid was able to strengthen the Muslim brotherhood as he was its spokesperson. This movement, thought highly influenced by Sayyid Qutb, was not started by him. It had begun earlier in the 19th century. The interpretation of jihad by Sayyid has been a major basis for his association with terrorism and he is today being regarded as the founding father of terrorism groups such as Al Qaeda among others. However, while Sayyid truly advocated for personal commitment to jihad, he did not expressly or implicitly promote or advocate for terrorism nor began a terrorism movement. The jihad he advocated for was meant to ensure that all Muslim faithful participated in ensuring that Shariah or the laws of God or Allah were being observed or practiced in the public life of all Muslims. He called upon his Muslim brothers to stand up and defend the abuse of or replacement of Allah laws or the Shariah by secular laws that he termed to be immoral and infidel. He argued that true worship meant being ruled and guided by Shariah laws and not man made laws and this was the major reason he was angry with the western countries that were governed by constitutional government and parliamentary laws. Today, extremists from the Islamic religion have misinterpreted the works or the writings of Sayyid and used them as a basis for their attacks in the name of jihadism.

Analysis of writings of Sayyid Qutb
Searching via the web, it is evident that the writings of Sayyid have been highly demonized today. They are associated with the creation or the uprising of the terrorism activities that have been on the rise today. The anti-Muslim and anti-Arab movements have been on the forefront in the arguments that Sayyids writings are the major foundation or cornerstone of what has come to be referred to as Islamic terror. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade and Pentagon in the United States, much of the literature on terrorism has focused their attention on Sayyid Qutb, the Islamic religious leader. In the year 2003, the Sunday magazine of New York Times published an article titled the philosopher of Islamic terror and it is believed to have been among the widely read articles owing to its presence in the websites. Some of the Muslim clerics have also treated Sayyids writings harshly in the Arab world where Muslim religion is prevalent. The Quramic commentary of Sayyid in his writing dubbed in the shades of the Quran as well as in the milestones has continued to raise mixed reactions among the Muslims. Muslim clerics term them as Sayyids innovation that actually deviates from the dogma and teachings of Islam. Clerics have even warned young Muslims not to read the works of Sayyid, claiming that an individual with no in-depth knowledge of the Quran and Muslim teaching can easily be mislead. They argue that the case in Egypt where al-takfir wa-al-hijrah translated to mean penance and retreat who were led astray by the writings of Qutb due to deviation from the dogma of Islam.

The elegant prose of Sayyid Qutb reveals the anger and rage he had concerning immorality and injustices that inspired him to organize Muslim brotherhood or the al-lkhwan al-muslimun movements. Such immorality and injustices drove him to the military interpretation of Qurans jihad striving in the cause of God. While this was not meant to inspire the killing of innocent people, the interpreters of his work included that in their interpretation hence the increased interest on the role of Sayyids writing on terrorism rose around the world. The main reason why Sayyid wrote the milestone and other writings was to address the social injustices that he himself had experienced both in Egypt and in the United States and to provide an avenue to curb such injustices. The anger of Sayyid was not in any way expressed towards innocent people, but those he deemed were ones perpetrating social injustices and immorality around the world. He believed that the true Islam is to fully submit to the rule of God and he was convinced that this was the only way that true salvation and peace could be obtained. According to him, bringing the whole human kind all over the world to Islamism was the sole duty of every Muslim that he had been given by God. Sayyid believed in true worship without hypocrisy or love for wealth as he had observed in most westerners.  

Previously, jihad was interpreted to mean striving for cause of God. Muslims believed that they had a call or a duty to God to submit and strive for his cause. Jihad was previously interpreted to mean defensive war while striving to be righteous. Sayyid was greatly influenced by Maududis idea or perception of Islam as a force of revolution. According to Maududi, Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its tenets and ideals.

Sayyid expounded on this notion of Maududi and argued that Islam was indeed a revolution against people and human situation where Godhead or sovereignty is granted to human beings. Sayyid believed that any situation that gives people ultimate authority to become like God takes the authority of God. Human liberation according to Islam translates to the act of giving back the authority to God by rejecting those ruling over communities according to laws made by the people. Verbal advocacy in Islam cannot achieve this and this was the basis of military interpretation of jihad by Sayyid. He suggested that the state that was in existence in Egypt at that moment, since it was un-Islamic, could have been overthrown. By suggesting this, Sayyid reinterpreted the jahiliya concept already contained in the Quran to the non Muslim world. Traditionally, the Islamic world was divided into two the dar al-islam and dar al-harb, with the first one meaning the islam abode and the second one meaning the conflict abode that is the non Islamic, imperfect and social order. He argued that though Muslims were ignoring the conditions of the conflict abode, it was their duty and responsibility to reduce the threat of jahiliya or the religion truths ignorance that was being posed to Islam. According to Sayyid, jahiliya could be translated to mean the forces of ignorance in the modern world and the secularization of eastern communism and western capitalists. Faith declaration was also not enough as secular tyrants rose to rule over the world of Islam. As such, a militant form of jihad was essential if Islam was to fulfill the real jihad or their duty to God.

According to Qutb, jihad could be enforced against rulers of the Muslim community who did not implement the laws God. Such rulers were taken to be takfiri or apostate or traitors. He argued that such rulers were living in ignorance or jahiliyya and hence, the Muslim community should oppose such rulers. Traditional Muslims had believed that calling branding another fellow Muslim as takfiri translated to mean pagan was not an Islamic act. Sayyid however advocated for this mostly calling the secular Muslim rulers who had embraced modernism as pedlars of modernity. He even accused them of being guilty of apostasy and ridda hence they should be excommunicated and as such, they could be opposed justifiably. The excommunication that Sayyid Qutb advocated for did not in any way refer to the killing of fellow Muslims or citizens of other nations simply because they were being viewed as being takfiri. Sayyid only argued that since takfiri rulers were viewed as being ignorant or living in a state of jahiliyya, they were not fit to the rule the Muslim community, especially because they were not living according to the laws given to Allah for all Muslims to follow. Rulers became takfiri after adopting the laws and practices of modernity that were contrary to the holy teachings of Allah thus deviating from the true worship of Allah. Excommunication meant disowning such a person from the Muslim community but not eliminating or killing such a person. While most terrorists have taken the idea of takfiri advocated by Sayyid as a license to kill their fellow Muslims, this is their own interpretation of his writings but not the real intention of Sayyid. No writer can be judged according to wrongful interpretation of his work by other people. Also, while takfiri dealt with the issue of rulers and fellow Muslims, it did not extend to non Muslim individuals as is the case with terrorism. Terrorists have attacked non Muslim states and rulers in the name of takfiri and have ended up killing people not even subscribing or following the Muslim doctrine. The wrongful interpretation of takfiri by terrorists and the subsequent application of the misinterpreted work cannot be taken to demonize the works of Sayyid who had no intention of promoting terrorism activities.

Most critics have taken this interpretation of Sayyid on jihad as a license to the terrorists who feel that it is their duty to bring down tyrant rules and institute an Islamic kind of a society whereby all individual revere to God. While this is contained in Quran and it was expounded by Sayyid, his interpretation of jihad to include a militant form of intervention did not give way for innocent killing of American citizens or other people around the world through terrorism. Terrorism leads to killing of innocent children and both good and bad people. Sayyid called upon the Muslim brotherhood to bring down Muslim governments that were exercising injustices and immorality in the society and to institute a government that was purely guided by the laws of Allah. He did not advocate for killing of innocent individuals around the world. The main motivation of Sayyid via jihad was the elimination of social evils and injustices but not innocent people. Azzam who came following the execution of Sayyid was the one who took the role of interpreting the writings of Sayyid. He is the one who misled the Muslim brotherhood by adding that jihad and fighting jahiliya involved killing of innocent persons. This was not the original writing of Sayyid hence his reinterpretation of jihad and his explanation of the same cannot be said to be the basis through which terrorists are today being perpetrated. Later interpretations of his writings have created their own meaning, a deviation from the original work of Sayyid and expounded on concepts he did not tackle and have subsequently based their justification for their acts on the same.

Islamic religion does not entail a declaration of Arabs liberation only and its message is not only meant for the Arabs only either. On the contrary, it is given to all human kind and as such, the whole world is the field work of Islam. As such, it is the duty of Islam to ensure that all people are brought back to the true Lord and this means liberating them or stopping them from worshiping, serving or submitting to other authorities but to God. From the point of view of Islam, the real and true worships or servitude only occurs when a person submits to laws formulated and enacted by human beings. Any person who serves another person other than God is termed to have deviated from Islam regardless of his confession of the Muslim faith. Sayyid only took it upon himself to remind his fellow Muslims that they have a duty and responsibility to ensure that jahiliya was reformed and by doing so, he was able to move away from earlier interpretations of jihad by Islamic scholars who had termed it as purely defensive war. He argued that those who viewed jihad as defensive in nature were casting away the real objective of the jihad of ensuring that no tyrannical powers were in force in the entire world. This enabled him to reinterpret jihad terming it as being offensive rather than defensive. To Sayyid, Islam homeland meant or represented the Islamic way of living, the beliefs of Islam and the entire Islamic community. He reasoned that Islam liberating power had to be opposed and as such there was inevitability of a military form of jihad. Liberating human kind in the entire world could not go unopposed, especially by the tyrannical powers and hence this could have resulted to military action. Since the main aim of jihad was to liberate men, then jihad would ultimately lead to peace being obtained in the world. Peace that is characterized by submission to God alone and not to human beings or laws made by human beings and subjected to others to follow.

While writing about the jihad assuming a military form, Sayyid oversaw this as a result of resistant from the tyrannical authorities resisting the liberation of mankind to make them submit to the true God. Jihad was only meant to take this form in cases where Muslim brotherhood was resisted and it was not meant to be carried on the very people that the brotherhood was meant to liberate. The role of military form of jihad was to fight tyranny but not innocent people as is the case of the terrorism attacks. Taking for example the bombing of young school children, bus terminals and the 911 bombing of the World Trade Center, all these acts believed to have been carried out by the Islamic terror group Al Qaeda led to the killing of innocent people who were not in authority and who were on the contrary subjected to the tyrannical rule as per the believes of the Islam. According to Sayyid, it is the duty of every Muslim to ensure that people are liberated and made to serve or offer their worship to God alone. Sayyid said this could only be done via preaching and physical intervention. Terrorism, instead of liberating men or bringing them closer to liberation or to the Islam religion, is drawing them far away from the Islamic community hence not meeting or acting according to the writings of Sayyid. Basing on the argument that Sayyids writings are the basis of terrorism acts thus loses ground in that if that was the case, the innocent bloodshed we are experiencing today as a result of terrorism and the increased deviation from this religion should not be experienced. Sayyid advocated for mens liberation and not the killing of individuals who are supposed to be liberated. Islamic terror or the Muslim brotherhood that has been involved in terrorist attacks has interpreted the writings of Sayyid wrongly. Sayyid did not advocate for terrorism attacks but rather liberation of people and an end to social injustice and immorality.

Another issue that Sayyid highly advocated for in his writings was the essence of going back to ijtihad which means the process of reasoning in regard to the interpretation of Islamic law. This activity had previously been declared as being closed (by Islamic scholars who had existed in the 11th century) to Sunni Muslims. In writing this, Sayyid was being guided by the Ibn Taymiyyah which stated that the ijtihad process must never cease. Almost all Muslims today have this stand and they are calling for ijtihad gates reopening and the rejection of ways and thoughts of non Islamic origin. This approach brought up by Sayyid and in use today has significant differences as compared to traditional Islamic practice of the Sunni. Sayyid further suggested that revolutionary vanguard should establish Islamic states so as to help in Islamizing states from above. This idea had been advanced by Maududi earlier. Through the ijtihad restoration, Sayyid was advocating that while interpreting the Islamic law, reasons should prevail. If this was the case, reason would reveal that terrorism leads to killing of innocent people who have no right to die. As such, ijtihad advocated by Sayyid would rather stop rather than promote terrorism. Sayyid was not advocating for terrorism and this is quite clear through his writings although they have been subjected to misinterpretations and reinterpretations that make them seem like they advocate for and even form a basis for terrorism although this is not true.

Sayyid Qutb was one of the religious figures who contributed largely to the understanding of jihad, takfiri and jahiliyya among other Quran laws. With increasing terrorism attacks and his advocacy for jihad, takfiri as well as jahiliyya, most scholars today have termed his ideologies as the major foundation of terrorist attacks. Jihad against rulers is one of the most cited examples as a fact believed to have contributed to the rise in terrorism around the west. Most of the works of Sayyid clearly show that he was unhappy with the ways of life, especially for the people who were living in western countries. This is understandable given the fact that he was a stout follower of Shariah law and the Muslim religion. Sayyid viewed the westerners as being immoral and materialistic and in his writings he abhorred such things and only believed that true worship and good leadership could be founded on the laws of Allah or the Shariah. Having this in mind, most scholars have argued that such believes are the major reason for emergence of terrorism. Significant clues show that most of the terrorists beliefs are highly influenced by the works of Sayyid. However, from the above analysis of the works of Sayyid, it is clear that Sayyid did not advocate for killing of innocent people or for terrorism but rather he called upon all Muslims to ensure that human beings were brought back to Allah and to submission to the laws of God. Misinterpretation of the true meaning that Sayyid had while writing his books has been taken as license for killing by extremist Muslims. However, Sayyid Qutbs work should not be demonized on the fact that other people have wrongly interpreted his work.

Europe is one of the most influential and powerful continent today. Exercising an expansive financial and economic authority in most global commercial activities, Europe has proven its capacity to develop a unified community in further pursuing its political progress and economic advancement. One of the major movements that greatly affected the shaped present-day Europe is the establishment of the European Union. Starting as a simple economic forum and community for active European member states, the European Union progressively and rapidly developed itself as a major governing body in the entirety of Europe, addressing political, economic, financial, and diplomatic activities done in the region. The European Union is substantial and vital in shaping the economy of Europe as well as in most part of the world.

Many have dreamed of having a unified Europe but it took quite some time before this dream became a reality. It was just after the World War II in 1945 that European leaders and government became serious in creating an integrated European community and government. They believed that Europe can achieve more stability in terms of peace, order, and security by means of exterminating nationalism and economic autarky that has been imposed during the Nazis occupation of Europe. An establishment of a unified Europe will then bring economic prosperity be means of more extended and expansive partnerships and free movements of products, people and information across the entire region, thus creating more opportunities for Europeans making it much easier for them to rebuild their post-war nations. Several countries have created alliances and clustered integrations depending on their location. France and Britain first ratified the Treaty of Dunkirk in 1947, while Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg allied followed the next year, thus creating the Western European Union. The United States also played an important role in creating the European Union by extending its capacity to encourage Europes political leaders and strengthening the benefits of creating the Union (Tiersky, 2004). It was in 1993 that the Treaty of Maastricht was signed which further created and formally established the European Union (EU).

The EU developed an integrated market by means of imposing a standardized system of laws that apply to all member states. This ensured the free movement of products, people, services, and capital. It also established common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. In further exercising its political and economic roles, 16 EU states adopted the regional currency Euro and have themselves be represented in major international organizations such as the WTO, G8, G20 and the United Nations. It also has the capacity to exercise legal and judicial rights with its justice and home affairs, which also has the ability to disable passport controls by the Schengen agreement.

The EU manages its international affairs with a mixture of supranationalism, having its power be transferred or delegated to a particular authority by the governments of member states, and intergovernmentalism, in which member states exercise authority and power and oftentimes create decisions that affects the organization. Most activities of the Eu are being controlled by a number of institutions and organizations that implement the tasks and policies set out in the Treaties. These are still subject to the idea of subsidiarity that requires actions to be taken only at the EU level such that an individual member states cannot achieve alone. Foreign policy cooperation has been expansive upon the establishment of the EU allowing the promotion of EUs interests and objectives as well as the observance of international policies as well which includes human rights respect, encouragement of democracy and the application of the due process and rule of law.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) makes it sufficient to compensate the military and defensive needs of the region. Most of the EU states are also NATO members while others remain militarily neutral.

Economically speaking, the EU proved itself to be worthy and competitive with other international economies such as the United States, Australia, Canada, China among others. Almost 40 of the 500 largest corporations in the world are situated in EUs member states and that the EU was able to generate a combined GDP of 18.39 trillion as of 2008. EUs unemployment rate remains at 7 and a lower inflation rate of 2.2 as registered in 2008 (International Monetary Fund, 2009).

European member states enjoy the benefits of regional development among other aspects of improvement. The allocation of funds for infrastructure development as well as more investments in order to decrease unemployment rate are also part of the European Unions main objectives.

Italy is one of the major and active participants in unifying and integrating Europe. It actually hosted several significant events in order to establish the current EU. Italy have changed rapidly from the fascist movement of Mussolini and Nazism of Hitler and transformed itself as a more developed and improved country in terms of government and economy.

Scandinavia on the other hand, have become inconvenient in participating on EU although some of its member states were pioneers of the European Union. Only Norway experienced a more crucial situation in deciding to join the EU due to their fear of being overpowered in terms of their agriculture, fisheries, regional policies, offshore oil and gas, and even independence.

European Union is a vital organization in shaping the current economy and development of Europe by means of adhering on the ideals and principles of cooperation and unity despite their regional diversity.

The Baltic States are situated down the western border of Belarus and the Russian Federation. These states positioned in north-central Europe and border the Baltic Sea on the eastern side. These states include Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Before the Second World War, Finland was regarded by the Nazi Germany as the fourth Baltic country. The Baltic States were colonized by the then U.S.S.R and attained independence in 1991.

Despite being one of the Baltic States, the general reference to the Republic of Lithuania as Baltic does not mean any political connections with the three member states (Malksoo, 2006). The reference is purely geographical because of its location on the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea, in N.E. Europe (see map, Appendix 1). Of the Baltic States, Lithuania is the most populous and largest. Its citizens are neither Germanic nor Slavic. Its colonization by both Russia and Germany coupled with subsequent association with Poland has greatly influenced the religious beliefs and other practices of Lithuania. This essay shall discuss the defense system of Lithuania.

Lithuanias Defense System
Lithuanias defense structure is founded on the logic of maximum unconditional defense directed by the countrys national security policy. This strategy is aimed at preparing the Lithuanian community for general protection and further integrates the nation into Western defense and security systems. Being a member state of NATO- North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Lithuania fully supports the model of collective defense and its policies recognize the role of NATO in guaranteeing European security. Due to this, Lithuania participates in international military and UN peace keeping missions within Europe and other NATO member states.

The Ministry of Defense has been mandated with the role of organizing combat forces, intelligence, and rescue and search operations and to some extent manages the finances dedicated for national defense and security. The nation has approximately 20,000 military troops in both active duty and reserve. Lithuania currently cooperates with Latvia and Estonia in joint naval operations along the Baltic Sea and may in future contribute for other NATO needs and responses when it enters trilateral Baltic land accords (Malksoo, 2006).

Lithuanias Military
A country needs a military to protect its citizens for internal and external aggression. Owing to the atrocities that characterized the seceding of Lithuania from Russia, the need for an armed force imperative. Apparently Lithuania has a military force made up of approximately 15,000 active officers. About one fifth of the army personnel masquerade as civilians and get some assistance from a hundred thousand reserve forces (Sarunsa, 2009). The Interior Ministry supervises the over 5,000 border guards who have the overall responsibility of defending the countrys territories, custom duties and issuance of passports and together with the navy, they combat piracy, drug trafficking and smuggling. The Lithuanian Armed Forces comprises of The Navy, The Air Force, The Land Force, The Special Operations unit and the National Defense Volunteer Forces.

The Lithuanian Land Force
The main defense force of a country is its land force. Accordingly the main unit if Lithuania land force is the Iron Wolf Mechanized Infantry Brigade made up of an artillery battalion, support and logistics units and four infantry battalions (Sarunsa, 2009). The land force is currently in the process of acquiring modern defense equipment and is projected to fully meet this objective by 2012. Some of the sophisticated armament in the force includes the German Koch  Heckler G36 guns, armored personnel vehicles and infantry fighting carriers. It is projected that by 2014, 10 percent of these Land Forces at any given instant could be given international assignments whereas 50 percent of the forces would be geared up for deployment outside Lithuania.

The Lithuanian Naval Force
The naval force is a small force of about 800 personnel and its main defense operations are the maritime and coastal surveillance. To effectively carry out this operation, it has several mines countermeasures, high speed submarines and patrol boats, corvettes among other equipment. This force is divided into three major squadrons namely the Combat Ship, the Mine Countermeasures and, the Patrol Boat Squadron. To boost up its naval operations, the Lithuanian Navy has acquired two Mine countermeasure warships from the U.K to replace its aging vessels and patrol boats.

The Lithuanian Air Force
Lithuania has an aged fleet of military jets and helicopters. Generally its air force is a weak one. The aviation base of the Air Force is on a modernization mission in order to conform to the NATO standards by replacing the aging Russian helicopters, jet fighters and aircrafts. The Air Force works with the other military departments such as the Navy in providing support for sea rescue and search operations. Its other functions include aerospace surveillance, control, Air Force and Air Base equipment and armament repair. Most of Lithuanias air space is currently controlled, patrolled and manned by jet fighters belonging to other NATO member states. These fighters are however based at one of Lithuanias air bases.

National Defense Volunteer Forces
Another important defense unit is the National Defense Volunteer Forces (NDVF). It forms an essential aspect of the Lithuanian defense forces. The minister of National Defense is the one with authority of appointing the commander of NDVF. The NDVF is created on the basis of administrative boundaries. Accordingly, it comprises of companies arranged into battalions operating within particular territorial defense brigades. There is a regular military officer in every NDVF unit as well as a sketchy cadre that is in control of training activities and administrative duties. The remaining NDVF personnel are composed of volunteers who work without a salary. These volunteers have in the past taken part in successfully international missions in Afghanistan, Iraq as well as in Balkan countries.

Special Operations Forces
The Special Operations Forces (SOF) of Lithuania has been operating since 2002, though not officially recognized. However, in April 2008, owing to the amendments carried on National Defense System structure as well as the military service law, SOF was officially recognized. The main force of SOF has its basis on the Special Purpose Service, these comprises of the Great Jaeger Battalion as well as the Combat Divers Service (CDS).  The SOF has a highly flexible organization structure making it possible for it to easily create squadrons meant to undertake demanding operations as well as missions. In cases where the Lithuania law enforcements agencies lacks the capacity to deal with security attacks such as terrorist attack, the agencies can call upon the SOF to  deal with such cases (Viktorija, 2006).

Analysis of Lithuania military
Lithuania is a member of NATO, which it joined in 2004 and thus supports the approach of collective defense. Its national policy acknowledges the superiority of NATO as the body to ensure security in Europe. The objective of Lithuania defense force policy is forming a military force that is able to make contributions to international operations and missions through NATO, the UN and any other international body. At the same time, the objective of the military is to continue integrating Lithuania forces into western defense systems. The Lithuania defense ministry has the duty of managing combat forces, carrying out search and rescue missions as well as intelligence.  Even though the government is committed in reducing the military expenditure to less than 2 of its GDP, it has not achieved this objective.

Lithuania has about 10,000 active military officers together with 8,000 reserve officers. The central part of the Lithuania military is the Iron Wolf Motorized Infantry Brigade, this comprises of five battalions backed by suitable support staff elements.  The air force has 17 fixed wing airplanes and 9 helicopters, making it not to be a very strong force.  The Lithuania Home Guard is divided into 5 districts.

The Lithuania Border Police comprises of 5,400 guards, and is under the interior ministry. Accordingly, the police have the duty of maintaining border security, checking passports and carrying out other customs duties. Though the border police have tried to ensure that no trafficking and smuggling activities takes place within the boundaries of Lithuania, they have not been able to completely fight this vice.

In order to improve its security and protect its borders, Lithuania security forces works together with security forces of Estonia as well as Latvia in joint security operations. Accordingly, they have formed a joint naval patrol squadron. There are plans as well by the Lithuania government to make contribution to a trilateral Baltic land security force, that can be used as a element of NATO International Security Assistance Force(ISAF) in future operations (Renatas, 2006).

Generally, Lithuanias military force is still evolving as the county tries to create a force that can match NATO standards, it will certainly take some time bearing in mind that military equipments requires huge amounts of money to acquire them,  more so, training  highly effective force is as well expensive and time consuming. But the needs of the Lithuania in terms of security are adequately catered for.

Conclusion
Lithuania is one of the Baltic States, it is found at the north-eastern part of Europe. Its neighbors include Latvia, Poland and Russia.  The country seceded from the Soviet Union in 1990 and since then, it has been able to form a military force capable of protecting it both from internal and external security threats. As noted by Sarunsa (2009) the armed forces are made up of approximately 15, 000 active officers. About one fifth of the army personnel masquerade as civilians and get some assistance from a hundred thousand reserve forces. The naval force of Lithuania is made of about 800 personnel and its main defense operations are the maritime and coastal surveillance. The air force of Lithuania is weak and there is efforts to improve it to reach the NATO accepted standards.  In order to boost its security Lithuania has The National Defense Volunteer Forces (NDVF), which forms an essential aspect of the Lithuanian defense forces. The military is under-equipped and has outdated weaponry accordingly the government of Lithuania has undertaken to modernize its military equipments to be to certain set standards. The security protection of Lithuania is boosted by the fact that Lithuania is member of NATO. It can be deduced that, the defense force of Lithuania is well organized. Though it has not reached the required standards, it is slowly getting there.