Abstract
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THE NEED FOR AFFIRMATION OF THE MECHANISMS FOR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF CITIZENS IN THE CRЕАTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LOCAL POLICIES
Ivana Šumanovska-Spasovska
The right to express an opinion and the right of the citizens to participate in the decision-making on issues of public interest is a right that is directly recognized by the Constitution as the highest legal act, as well as by the Law on Local Self-Government, which defines it as an individual or collective involvement of the residents of the municipality in decisions regarding affairs of local importance at different levels of decision-making, while, on the other hand, the procedure for realizing the forms of direct expression at both state and local level is determined by the Law on Referendum and other forms of direct expression. The significance of this issue is also indicated in the international acts and documents, among which we highlight the European Charter for Local Self-Government and Recommendation 19 of 2001. Consequently, one of the main aims of the research is to carry out the analysis of the legal framework that regulates this issue from a theoretical, legal and comparative aspect. For that aim in our research we will used legal, comparative and historical method.
In the paper, special emphasis will be put on answering the questions that are related to: determining the reasons that influence the reduction of the intensity of the citizen participation in the political process, whether there is a need to add elements of participative democracy to the model of representative democracy, as well as whether the institutions take sufficient adequate measures for affirmation of citizen participation in the decision-making at the local level?
Namely, the direct participation of citizens in the accomplishment (realizing) of the political process is an expression of participatory democracy. The direct participation of citizens in the governance process is regarded as a fundamental right in a democratic society, an opportunity for the citizens to contribute in achieving a better life and overall progress. Therefore citizens should be informed, adequately and timely consulted and complementary participation of the citizens with their representatives should be provided. As a special recommendation, we would like to emphasize the need for affirmation not only of the use of the forms of direct expression such as the referendum, the gathering of citizens and the civic initiative, but also to rather promote the role of civic forums, citizen panels, public opinion polls, focus groups, etc. All of these measures would affect the strengthening of democracy, the fulfillment of the principle of accountability and transparency in the work of the institutions, and the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making process.
Keywords: participative democracy, representative democracy, local self-government, direct citizens' expression, accountability
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