CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL PUBLIC POLICIES – A GOOD GOVERNANCE ELEMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Abstract

Citizen participation in the development and implementation of public policies is a criterion for the democracy effectiveness. Active and engaged citizens and non-governmental organizations are a prerequisite for responsible, efficient and democratic governance. Citizen participation in local public policies is an element of good governance at the local level. The inclusion of citizens and civil society organizations in the decision-making on local public policies contributes to increasing public support for local government decisions and to their easier implementation in practice. Also, civic participation contributes to increasing transparency in the activities of local government. For these reasons, civil participation in decision-making is regulated both in the domestic legislation of European countries and in the acts of the European Union and the Council of Europe. All this determines the relevance of the researched issues. The aim of the study is to examine the role of citizen participation in local public policies as an element of good governance at the local level in a European context and to outline main trends. Based on the goal sо formulated, the following tasks are defined: to examine basic principles and levels of civil participation in the decision-making; to analyze main opportunities for citizen participation in the individual stages of the process of formulation and implementation of local public policies. The formulated main goal of the present study and the outlined main tasks presuppose, in a methodological aspect, the following methods of scientific research shall be applied: content analysis, secondary data analysis, desk-based research. The complexity and specificity of the researched issues require the use of a complex toolkit. Based on the research and analyses conducted, the following main results can be outlined: citizen participation in local public policies is gaining more and more significance in the context of democratic governance at the local level; the availability of capacity and resources plays a leading role in achieving effective civil participation in the decision-making. As a main conclusion, it can be stated that citizen participation in local public policies is a key element of good governance at the local level in the European context. It is recommended to encourage and increase citizen participation in local public policies with a view to achieving more effective, democratic governance at the local level.