Assoc. Prof. Ph. D. Saulius Pivoras – Historian and Political Scientist. Head of the Department of Public Administration at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania. Conducted research in Sweden and Finland, was guest researcher of Kungliga Skytteanska Samfundet (1998). Also was active as a columnist in various Lithuanian newspapers as well as in the monthly of American Lithuanians "Akiraciai". He is an author of 3 books and more than forty articles in the scholarly press of Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Sweden. Lectured in the universities of Vilnius, Klaipėda, Kaunas. Teaches various subjects, among others: Scandinavian Politics, Civil Service Human Resources Management, Theories of Public Administration. Among research interests are: Performance management in Civil service, Lithuanian – Swedish relations in the system of international relations, Local civic consciousness in comparative perspective. Knowledge of languages: Lithuanian (mother-tongue), English, Swedish, Polish, Russian, German, Latvian (reading language).