Participatory democracy in war conditions: foreign experience and prospects for Ukraine.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the transformation of participatory democracy mechanisms in martial law based on the analysis of international experience and Ukrainian practice.

The relevance of the study is due to the need to preserve and adapt democratic institutions during a full-scale war, when traditional forms of public participation require rethinking.

The introduction substantiates the problem of balancing between the security needs of the state and the preservation of democratic values, and analyzes the challenges for participatory practices in martial law. The literature review systematizes scientific research on the functioning of participatory democracy during armed conflicts in different countries of the world, in particular in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Syria, and El Salvador. Theoretical approaches to crisis management with citizen participation and empirical studies of the impact of military experience on civic activity are considered.

The research methodology is based on comparative analysis, a systemic approach and a case-study method to study specific practices of participatory budgeting, public consultations and volunteer activities in wartime. The methods of content analysis of documents of international organizations and secondary analysis of sociological research were applied.

The main results of the study demonstrate that martial law does not exclude the possibility of preserving mechanisms of participatory democracy, but on the contrary, stimulates the development of new forms of civic activity. The experience of the Ukrainian model of adapting participatory practices is analyzed, in particular, the transformation of public budgets, the creation of online platforms for consultations, and large-scale volunteer mobilization. Specific characteristics of the Ukrainian model are identified that distinguish it from post-conflict contexts in other countries due to the simultaneous conduct of active hostilities and the preservation of democratic procedures.

The study shows the critical role of digital technologies in ensuring citizen participation in conditions of limited mobility and security risks. It is established that Ukrainian practice demonstrates the phenomenon of increased civic activism in conditions of existential threat, which contrasts with the hypothesis of the inevitable curtailment of democratic processes during war. The role of international organizations in supporting participatory practices and their contribution to building the institutional capacity of Ukrainian municipalities is analyzed.

The conclusions emphasize the uniqueness of the Ukrainian case as an example of a “resilient democracy” capable of preserving and developing mechanisms of public participation even in conditions of full-scale aggression. The key factors of the success of the Ukrainian model are identified, including previous experience of democratization, developed civil society, international support and digital transformation.

The prospects for the further development of participatory democracy in the context of the future reconstruction of Ukraine and the potential contribution of Ukrainian experience to the global practice of supporting democracy in conflict and post-conflict societies are outlined.