Tools for Involving Citizens in Municipal Governance: Russia Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/21.4.775-805(2023)Keywords:
participative governance, project, civic engagement, municipality, communicationsAbstract
The article considers the experience of citizens' involvement in municipal governance on the example of those regions of the Russian Federation, where the practices of budget initiation are implemented. Index of public participation for such regions is defined; qualitative and organizational aspects of citizen participation in governance at the municipal level are defined; the main tools of communication between citizens and authorities are analyzed. Despite the widespread availability of both online and offline tools for citizen participation in municipal government, civic engagement remains low, which is explained by the insufficient level of communication between municipal authorities and citizens.
References
Ahmad, R. (2006) The role of public administration in building a harmonious (Beijing: NAPSIPAG).
Aichholzer, G. & Rose, G. (2020) Experience with digital tools in different types of e-participation, In: Hennen, L., van Keulen, I., Korthagen, I., Aichholzer, G., Lindner, R. & Nielsen, R. (eds.) European E-democracy in practice. Studies in digital politics and governance (Cham: Springer), pp. 93–143, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27184-8_4.
Asgarkhani, M. (2005) Digital government and its effectiveness in public management reform, Public Management Review, 7(3), pp. 465–487, https://doi.org/10.1080/14719030500181227.
Balaguer-Coll, M. T., Prior, D. & Tortosa-Ausina, E. (2010) Decentralization and efficiency of local government, The Annals of Regional Science, 45(3), pp. 571-601, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00168-009-0286-7.
Beuermann, D. W. & Amelina, M. (2018) Does participatory budgeting improve decentralized public service delivery? Experimental evidence from rural Russia, Economics of Governance, 19(4), pp. 339–379, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-018-0214-3.
Blom-Hansen, J., Houlberg, K., Serritzlew, S. & Treisman, D. (2016) Jurisdiction size and local government policy expenditure: Assessing the effect of municipal amalgamation, American Political Science Review, 110(4), pp. 812–831, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055416000320.
C.L.E.A.R. (2008) TOOL: Final version, European Committee on local and regional democracy (CDLR) (Strasbourg: Council of Europe), available at: https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=2961724&SecMode=1&DocId=2010906&Usage=2 (November 22, 2022).
Cegarra-Navarro, J. G., Garcia-Perez, A. & Moreno-Cegarra, J. L. (2014) Technology knowledge and governance: Empowering citizen engagement and participation, Government Information Quarterly, 31(4), pp. 660–668, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2014.07.001.
Cherkasov, A. I. (2018) Direct and participatory democracy as a means of involving the population in the decision-making process at the local level, Proceedings of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 13(2), pp. 190-215, available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/pryamaya-i-partisipatsionnaya-demokratiya-kak-sredstvo-vovlecheniya-naseleniya-v-protsess-prinyatiya-resheniy-na-mestnom-urovne (October 6, 2023).
Cho, S., Mossberger, K., Swindell, D. & Selby, J. D. (2021) Experimenting with public engagement platforms in local government, Urban Affairs Review, 57(3), pp. 763–793, https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087419897821.
Cochrane, A. (2020), In and beyond local government: Making up new spaces of governance, Local Government Studies, 46(4), pp. 524–541, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2019.1644321.
Council of Europe (1985) European charter of local self-government, Europe Treaty Series, no. 122, available at: https://rm.coe.int/european-charter-of-local-self-government-eng/1680a87cc3 (October 6, 2023).
Díaz-Cayeros, A., Magaloni, B. & Ruiz-Euler, A. (2014) Traditional governance, citizen engagement, and local public goods: Evidence from Mexico, World Development, 53, pp. 80–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.01.008.
Elelman, R. & Feldman, D. L. (2018) The future of citizen engagement in cities—The council of citizen engagement in sustainable urban strategies (ConCensus), Futures, 101, pp. 80–91, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2018.06.012.
Emil, M. (2022) Index of local autonomy as a tool for assessing the state of municipal institutions, Power, 30(5), pp. 31-39, available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/indeks-lokalnoy-avtonomii-kak-instrument-otsenki-sostoyaniya-munitsipalnyh-institutov (October 6, 2023).
Fred, F. (2020) Local government projectification in practice – a multiple institutional logic perspective, Local Government Studies, 46(3), pp. 351–370, https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2019.1606799.
Gilman, H. R. (2016) Engaging citizens: Participatory budgeting and the inclusive governance movement within the United States (Cambridge: Ash Center Occasional Papers Series, Harvard University).
He, B. (2003) The theory and practice of Chinese grassroots governance: Five models, Japanese Journal of Political Science, 4(2), pp. 293-314, available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232025545_The_Theory_and_Practice_of_Chinese_Grassroots_Governance_Five_Models (October 6, 2023).
International Association for Public Participation (2007) The spectrum of public participation, available at: http://www.iap2.org/associations/4748/files/IAP2%20Spectrum_vertical.pdf (November 22, 2022).
Jimenez, B. S. (2020) Municipal government form and budget outcomes: Political responsiveness, bureaucratic insulation, and the budgetary solvency of cities, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 30(1), pp. 161–177, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muz020.
Krause, R., Hawkins, C., Park, A. & Feiock, R. (2019) Drivers of policy instrument selection for environmental management by local governments, Public Administration Review, 79(4), pp. 477-487, https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13025.
Kropotova, N. V., Khairova, S. I. & Yudeeva, T. V. (2021) Initiative budgeting as a mechanism for involving citizens in municipal management, E-Scio, 9(60), p. 229, available at: http://e-scio.ru/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/E-SCIO-9_2021.pdf#page=230 (October 6, 2023).
Larichev, A. A. (2021) Index of local autonomy as a tool for digital analysis of the evolution of municipal institutions in Russia, Current problems of law in the conditions of digitalization of society, pp. 14-17, available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_47602971_37407815.pdf (October 6, 2023).
Leon-Moreta, A. (2016) Functional responsibilities of municipal governments, The American Review of Public Administration, 48(1), pp. 18–32, https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074016675721.
Mikhailenko, Yu. S. (2017) Mass media as a special tool for involving the population in municipal government, Young Scientist, 51, pp. 160-162, https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=30795169.
Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (2019b) Review of the current practice and some recommendations on organizing initiative budgeting (Moscow: Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation), available at: https://minfin.gov.ru/common/upload/library/2019/12/main/Obzor_praktiki_i_rekomendatsii_po_PTS.pdf (November 22, 2022).
Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (2019a) Report on the best practices of developing initiative budgeting in the subjects of the Russian Federation and municipalities, (Moscow: Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation), available at: https://m.minfin.ru/common/upload/library/2019/10/main/1070_Doklad.pdf (November 22, 2022).
Narbón Perpiñá, I. & De Witte, K. (2018) Local governments' efficiency: A systematic literature review-part I, International Transactions in Operational Research, 25, pp. 431–468, https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.12364.
OECD (2005) Evaluating public participation in policy making (Washington: OECD Publishing).
OECD (2019) Enhancing innovation capacity in city government (Washington: OECD Publishing).
Parés, M. & March, H. (2013) Guide to evaluating participatory processes (Government of Catalonia. Department of Governance and Institutional Relations, Innovation and Democratic Quality Programme), available at: (http://www.gencat.cat/governacio/pub/sum/qdem/guiesbreus_3_ang.pdf (October 6, 2023).
Razdyakonova, E. V. (2019) Forms of citizens' involvement in municipal management: Problems of legal regulation. Collection of scientific articles on the results of the work of the International Scientific Forum, 61, available at: http://nauchoboz.ru/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/%D0%A1%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA-%D0%9D%D0%90%D0%A3%D0%9A%D0%98-%D0%98-%D0%98%D0%9D%D0%9D%D0%9E%D0%92%D0%90%D0%A6%D0%98%D0%98-8-%D1%84%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8F-2019-%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C-2.pdf#page=61 (October 6, 2023).
Safarov, A. P. (2021) Forms and types of decentralization of state and municipal governance, Economy, business, innovation, pp. 122-124, available at: https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=46269615 (October 6, 2023).
Sofyani, H., Riyadh, H. A., Fahlevi, H. & Ardito, L. (2020) Improving service quality, accountability and transparency of local government: The intervening role of information technology governance, Cogent Business & Management, 7(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1735690.
United Nations E-Government Survey (2016) E-government in support of sustainable development, available at: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/reports/un-e-government-survey-2016 (November 22, 2022).
Volkova, A. M. & Potapov, A. D. (2021) Digital transformation of the system of municipal management in Russia: Choosing a model of institutional policy design, Leningrad Legal Journal, 2(64), pp. 80-91, available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/tsifrovaya-transformatsiya-sistemy-munitsipalnogo-upravleniya-v-rossii-vybor-modeli-institutsionalnogo-dizayna-politiki (October 6, 2023).
