Legal Foundations of Digitalization of Citizens’ Control over the Activities of Public Authorities

Abstract

The paper discusses the use of digital technologies in the relationships between the state and an individual. One of the directions of such relationships is the control of the population over the work of government bodies providing services. Control capabilities are significantly increased with the use of digital technologies. Their introduction into the practice of public authorities and use to expand communication with the public increase the objectivity of assessing the quality of services provided by governmental authorities. The relevance of the topic is determined by two main factors. Firstly, digitalization is an invariable stage of human development, including public authorities. Secondly, digitalization expands the possibilities of monitoring the activities of public authorities, minimizes the risks of corruption-causing factors, and increases the transparency of public administration. The study of the issue of digitalization was carried out both from the point of view of approaches to the formation of the concept, and from the point of view of the practical implementation of the phenomenon in the context of the relationship between the state and the population. The method of system analysis made it possible to identify the main theoretical provisions on digitalization in general. The formal legal method made it possible to adapt various approaches of researchers to the concept of digitalization in a broad sense and to the issues of digitalization of public authorities. Consideration of the regulatory framework for the consolidation of digital technologies gives grounds to come to the conclusion about the wide coverage of public relations by digital communication, which allows the use of various forms and methods of public control over the work of public authorities. The main obstacle in the development of communication in the digital sphere is the insufficient preparation of aging groups of the population for the use of modern information resources.