Civil society

Citizen participation and governance

The functioning civil society is created by different actors and the systemic frameworks determine the democratic institutions together with the legislative that defines the area where the actors perform and what kind of influence they can develop.

Shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’ embodies the hope of erecting new political opportunity structures that will allow for more points of entry for community interests.

Citizen participation has long been recognised as one of main components of good governance. This is especially true at the local level where it is assumed that increased engagement will create direct routes of accountability with local authorities, thereby improving local public service delivery and generating better local-level policies.“

Questions to reflect on

• What do you consider as the most appropriate way of governing in state?
• What do you think can motivate the government to welcome and promote the citizen participation?
• Do you think that your government shall come to an open-source government and why?
• How can corruption and the lack of transparency influence life of ordinary citizen?