Theoretical-legal and comparative aspects of the concept of participation democracyas one of the political-legal grounds of municipal authority

Abstract

Introduction. The article deals with the study of the essence and features of participatory democracy as one of the political and legal foundations of municipal power. Recognition of Ukraine as a social, democratic and legal state, as well as the establishment of a European integration course contributes to the improvement of legal provisions dedicated to the regulation of political activity of citizens and, in particular, participatory democracy. In today’s world, participatory democracy is a reflection of the practical positive European experience of citizen participation in the political and managerial sphere of society at the local level. Although, at first glance, participatory democracy seems to be a manifestation of purely political activity, not all forms of public activity belong to participatory democracy, just as participatory democracy is not limited to the political sphere.

Summary of the main research results. The author studies the existing approaches to the interpretation of participatory democracy, and provides his own definition with the identification of specific characteristics, including: 1) public involvement in the management of state and public affairs at the local level; 2) territorial community as the smallest economic unit of participatory democracy; 3) the procedure for the response of public authorities to the institutions of participatory democracy is enshrined in law; 4) the basis of participatory democracy - direct public political participation; 5) participatory democracy is an independent form, along with direct and representative democracies. Two factors of actualization of participatory democracy are singled out: 1) the process of decentralization of public power - the reform of local self-government; and 2) the spread of information technology and the emergence of society as a post-industrial. The author states the following: 1) at the normative level there is no consolidation of democracy of participation; 2) in the scientific literature, along with the concept of “participatory democracy” there are also “local democracy”, “inclusive democracy”, “democracy of participation”, which are considered synonymous; 3) in the legal doctrine there is no common understanding of the concept of “participatory democracy”, which is due to the numerous views of scholars on the interpretation of this concept.

Conclusions. It has been established that participatory democracy is a special form of democracy, the core of which is the direct public political participation of citizens at the level of local self-government, which contributes to the proper implementation of municipal public authority. It is noted that under the influence of information technology (informatization process), participatory democracy is gaining a new way of implementation, which is being transformed into e-participatory democracy, which is one of the components of digital democracy.