Citizen Initiatives Research Articles

Институт законодательной инициативы граждан в субъектах Российской Федерации

The article considers the issues of legal regulation of granting citizens the right to implement legislative initiatives and the consolidation of this right in the constitutions (charters) of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It was founded that the federal legislator, while providing the regions with the opportunity to empower citizens with the right to legislative initiative, did not regulate the issues of determining the conditions and procedure for realizing by citizens of this right. A variety of practices of legal regulation and constitutional consolidation of this institution based on the analysis of the constitutions (charters) of the regions were identified. In particular, three forms of legislative initiative of citizens were identified - a draft law, a legislative proposal, an amendment to a bill. It is proposed to consider a legislative proposal as an independent legal institution. It has been established that granting citizens the right to amend bills is aimed at developing the democratization of lawmaking process, so it was proposed to consolidate this right in the legislation of the constituent entities of the federation. But taking into account the peculiarities of the parliamentary discussion of the bill in the second reading, it was recommended to simplify the procedure of amending bills for citizens by reducing the number of signatures of citizens supporting this initiative. It has been established that regional legislators use a blanket method of securing the norms on the right to legislative initiative of citizens in the constitutions (charters) of the regions in most of the cases. The absolute number of citizens or the percentage of the total number of citizens who have the right to vote is used in the regions to determine the number of citizens required for the implementation of a legislative initiative. It is proposed to regulate the mechanism for implementing the institution of citizens’ legislative initiative at the federal level in order to expand the opportunity for citizens to participate in legislative activities and eliminate contradictions in the regional legislation.

Cachureando por Santiago. Reconociendo la inteligencia urbana situada

Durante la última década, el modelo Smart Cities ha alcanzado una creciente relevancia y protagonismo en la manera cómo se está pensando el desarrollo urbano en Chile, a partir de cuatro tendencias principales: mediante la conformación de una importante red de actores públicos y privados que promueven intervenciones smart en los centros urbanos; el creciente uso de nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación y la información para la producción de datos; la constante capacitación y especialización de los recursos humanos que operan en los centros urbanos; y la proliferación de intervenciones urbanas que se replican en las principales ciudades del país, entre otros. No obstante, dicho modelo presenta una escasa pertinencia territorial, una insuficiente vinculación con actores y agentes locales, e insuficiente reconocimiento y visibilización de iniciativas ciudadanas sustentadas en saberes y prácticas cotidianas que, perfectamente, pueden ser consideradas como parte de una “inteligencia urbana” basada en conocimientos situados de los habitantes de dichos territorios. Lo anterior abre la siguiente interrogante: ¿cómo comprender la inteligencia urbana en la actualidad?A partir del trabajo etnográfico desarrollado en una feria libre de la comuna de San Joaquín en la ciudad de Santiago, este artículo identifica y describe saberes, prácticas y estrategias que permiten a sus habitantes resolver problemas cotidianos por medio de diversas formas de informalidad, autogestión y redes de asociatividad. Ellas constituyen “inteligencias urbanas situadas” o saberes que emergen por medio del uso y apropiación territorial de los espacios públicos locales, las cuales se observan en las prácticas de recolección, reuso y reciclaje.

LA INFLUENCIA DEL CLUB ATLETISMO JOAQUÍN BLUME EN LA SOCIEDAD SEGOVIANA DURANTE MÁS DE 50 AÑOS

El objetivo de este trabajo de investigación ha sido dar una visión sobre las primeras manifestaciones de atletismo en la ciudad de Segovia (Castilla y León), a través de la creación del Club Atlético Joaquín Blume (C.A.J. Blume). En este artículo se pretende rescatar la historia del club, recuperando la iniciativa de ciudadanos anónimos, que ha sido la base para el funcionamiento de este durante más de 50 años. Este trabajo ha sido elaborado a través de siete entrevistas, a siete presidentes diferentes del C.A.J. Blume (Antonio Pinillos, Tomás Lorenzo, Fernando Fuentetaja, Jaime Gila, Emiliano del Caño, Tomás Lorenzo y Gustavo Gómez), con la finalidad de conocer desde su perspectiva, cómo era la situación atlética en cada una de las etapas, a la vez que analizar la evolución del club. El espíritu de equipo y el ambiente familiar por el que se ha conocido siempre a la entidad, y su filosofía, de no solo de formar atletas, sino también personas, han sido las bases para el mantenimiento del mismo. En la actualidad el club tiene convenios de colaboración con el Ayuntamiento de Segovia y la Diputación de Segovia para el desarrollo del atletismo en la ciudad y provincia; cuenta con una Junta Directiva con responsabilidades administrativas y deportivas y, a la vez dispone de entrenadores para todas las categorías y especialidades atléticas.

Ukrainian Theme in the Documents of Czech Civic Initiatives During the Second Half of the 1980s.

The authors analyzed the presence and content of Ukrainian theme in the documents of Czech civic initiatives during the second half of the 1980s. The development of citizens initiatives has become a catalyst of socio-political life in Czechoslovakia. The number of participants in civic initiatives increased, and their programs were politicized. In program statements the principle of the so-called leading role of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was rejected as inconsistent with the principle of equality of citizens and the code of civil and political rights. The source base of this research comprised documents and materials of human rights activists, first presented in the self-published (samizdat) bulletins of independent Czech civic initiatives: “Information on Charter 77” (“Informace o Chartĕ 77”), “The Case of the East European News Agency” (“Zprava vychodoevropske informačni agentury”) and “Bulletin of Independent Peace Commonwealth – Initiative for demilitarization of society” (“Bulletin nezavisleho miroveho sdruženi – Iniciativy za demilitarizaci společnosti”). It has been shown that the Ukrainian theme is presented in two documents of the human rights association of Charter 77: the document “Before the Chernobyl Accident” (May 6, 1986) and the telegram of Czechoslovak human rights activists to Lviv, addressed to the group “Dovira” (“Trust”) (April 22, 1989). Czech “Independent Peace Commonwealth – Initiative for demilitarization of society” and Ukrainian, Lviv, “Dovira” Group, exchanged a letter and a telegram of solidarity. The informational reasons for creating the documents were the Chernobyl disaster – man-made accident on a global scale and the brutal dispersal of a peaceful demonstration in Lviv. Documents of Czech human rights activists and pacifist activists focus public attention on late Soviet realities: concealment of information from society about radioactive contamination and another human rights violation in Soviet Ukraine

Towards a Sustainable Landscape: Constructing Identities and Ambitions in a Citizen Initiative in the Making

The recent proliferation of citizen initiatives that aim to contribute to sustainable landscape transition prompted us to study how members of such an initiative in-the-making try to position themselves in their environment in order to make a meaningful contribution. We use a single case study in the east of the Netherlands to study how members discursively construct identities and ambitions through the inclusion of people and ideas over time. We applied an interactional framing analysis to 20 audio-recorded and transcribed meetings of the citizen initiative. The results show that various actors and ideas were included over time, resulting in the construction of different ambitions and identities over time. Ambitions changed in response to new event and changing circumstances. To justify these changing ambitions, the members constructed new identities during their conversations, using different interactional framing strategies. The study reveals that the process of finding an ambition and identity continuously changed direction, paradoxically, due to a lack of direction that hindered the members in making coherent and sustainable decisions. We conclude that a citizen initiative should actively interact with their relation groups to find a direction that supports the process of effectively positioning their initiative and contributes to the shared goal of improving the quality of the living environment.

A study on conditions of continuation of citizen initiative events in a city core area

A study on conditions of continuation of citizen initiative events in a city core area

Social Contract as a Tool for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Initiative of Low-Income Citizens

Purpose: The article highlights topical issues on the development of the social contract technology as a tool for stimulating entrepreneurial initiative of low-income citizens and the ways to address these issues. Design/Methodology/Approach: Present-day strategic priorities of socio-economic development in a civilized State comprise, first and foremost, poverty reduction and promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises. The promising tool able to influence the achievement of the mentioned goals simultaneously is deemed to be such a technology of state social assistance as social contract with individual enterprise being one of its orientations. However, despite progressive opportunities, this social contract orientation has not become widespread in Russia yet, and the reasons for this state of affairs and prospects demand scientific justification. Findings: The necessity for formation and development of the targeted state assistance on the basis of the social contract technology in Russia taking into account the experience of other countries has been justified. The analysis of implementation of the social contract technology in practice has led to defining factors hindering its active application. Practical Implications: The algorithm of actions, implied by the social contract for aid recipients, and weak points of its implementation have been determined. Originality/Value: The authors have formulated proposals on further improvement of the social contract technology in terms of stimulating entrepreneurial initiative of low-income citizens

Social Contract as a Tool for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Initiative of Low-Income Citizens

Purpose: The article highlights topical issues on the development of the social contract technology as a tool for stimulating entrepreneurial initiative of low-income citizens and the ways to address these issues. Design/Methodology/Approach: Present-day strategic priorities of socio-economic development in a civilized State comprise, first and foremost, poverty reduction and promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises. The promising tool able to influence the achievement of the mentioned goals simultaneously is deemed to be such a technology of state social assistance as social contract with individual enterprise being one of its orientations. However, despite progressive opportunities, this social contract orientation has not become widespread in Russia yet, and the reasons for this state of affairs and prospects demand scientific justification. Findings: The necessity for formation and development of the targeted state assistance on the basis of the social contract technology in Russia taking into account the experience of other countries has been justified. The analysis of implementation of the social contract technology in practice has led to defining factors hindering its active application. Practical Implications: The algorithm of actions, implied by the social contract for aid recipients, and weak points of its implementation have been determined. Originality/Value: The authors have formulated proposals on further improvement of the social contract technology in terms of stimulating entrepreneurial initiative of low-income citizens.

Inactivity of public authority as a subject of land dispute in administrative legal proceedings

In recent years, conflicts in land relations between citizens and government have been increasingly occurring in Ukraine. On the one hand, citizens are striving to realize their right to receive a land plot free of charge, on the other hand, authorities are trying to ignore the corresponding statements of citizens. The purpose of this research is to formulate a legal position concerning the inactivity of authorities in relations arising from the initiative of citizens regarding granting them permission for the development of a land management plan with the subsequent transfer of a land plot into ownership, as well as to determine the optimal way to protect the violated rights of citizens as a result of unlawful inactivity of public authorities. The study has been characterization and identification of peculiarities of application of the principle of tacit consent in land permission relations; indicated ways of protecting the rights of an individual as a result of unlawful inactivity of a powerful subject; established nature of the discretionary powers of the competent authorities. The importance and value of research are complex in nature and is revealed in its social significance since it consists in publication and raising problematic issues in the land sphere for public discussion; the economic value is manifested in helping to resolve real estate ownership problems; legal significance consists in determining perspective directions of legal and regulatory improvement of land relations; the applied value which is manifested in the promotion of the activities of local self-government bodies and administrative justice.

106 - Environmental Influences on the Cognitive and Psychological Well Being of Older Adults with Dementia

This symposium will review the latest data on the influence of environmental design and its attributes on the cognitive and psychological wellbeing of older adults living with dementia. The presenters will cover the myriad ways in which the physical environment of care can adapt to the changing demands of older adults with sensory, motor and cognitive deficits and foster optimal functioning and quality of life. The role of emerging technologies will also be reviewed as they complement the contribution of the design of the physical environment to the wellbeing of older adults with cognitive impairment. Information will be offered through a review of the existing research literature as well as case studies that illustrate the impact of environmental modification on fostering wellbeing and minimizing the emergence of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. The presenters will represent and integrate sensibilities that have emerged from the fields of architecture, cognitive neuroscience and psychology.How the Principles of the Culture Change Movement Inform Environmental Design and the Application of Technology in the Care of Older Adults Living with DementiaWilliam E. ReichmanThe culture change movement informs a number of principles that have been applied to more contemporary design concepts for the congregate care of older adults living with dementia. This talk will review the core tenets of the Culture Change Movement as exemplified by the Greenhouse, Dementia Village and other innovative models of congregate long-term care. Specific reference will be made to how these tenets have been operationalized around the world into the design of programming and the creation of residential care environments that foster a better quality of life for older adults and an enhanced work environment for care providers. This talk will also include the emerging role of technologies that complement innovative design of the environment and which foster optimized social and recreational functioning of older adults living with dementia.A Better Life Through a Better Nursing Home DesignL. Bradford PerkinsOver the last 20 years there has been extensive experimentation related to the role of the environment in the housing, care and treatment of persons with Alzheimer’s and other age related dementias. Prior to that time the typical housing and care environment was a locked unit in a skilled nursing or other restrictive senior living facility. In 1991 the Presbyterian Association on Aging in Western Pennsylvania opened Woodside Place on its Oakmont campus. This small 36 bed facility was designed to incorporate the latest research and care experience with persons suffering from these issues. This one small project, as well as the long post occupancy research led by Carnegie Mellon University, clearly demonstrated that individuals with Alzheimer’s and related forms of dementia could lead a healthier, happier, higher quality of life in a more residential, less restrictive environment. Not everything in this pioneering project worked, and five generations of living and care models have followed that have refined the ideas first demonstrated by Woodside Place. Bradford Perkins, whose firm designed Woodside Place and over 100 other related projects, will discuss what was learned from Woodside Place as well as the five generations of projects (and post occupancy research) that followed.Innovative dementia care environments as alternatives for traditional nursing homes: evidence and experiences from the NetherlandsHilde VerbeekKey goals of the dementia care environment focus on increasing autonomy, supporting independence and trying to enable one’s own lifestyle for as long as possible. To meet these goals, innovative, small-scale and homelike care environments have been developed that have radically changed the physical, social and organizational aspects of long-term care in the Netherlands. This presentation discusses various Dutch models that have implemented small-scale and homelike care environments, including green care farms, dementia village and citizen initiatives. The models reflect a common care concept, focusing on residents’ remaining strengths, providing opportunity for choice and aiming to sustain a sense of self and control. A small number of residents (usually 6 to 8) live together in a homelike environment and nursing staff are part of the household. Residents are encouraged to participate in daily household activities, emphasizing normalization of daily life with person-centred care. The physical environment resembles an archetypal home. This talk presents the scientific evidence on the impact and effects of these small-scale, homelike models on residents, their family caregivers and staff. Furthermore, the presentation will highlight working approaches and how these initiatives have positively influenced routine care across the long-term care spectrum.

Au-delà de l’archétype métropolitain, penser des territoires d’innovation pluriels

Used as a label in territorial marketing or as a tool for territorial development, the notion of innovation territory is understood, in this article, as a set of rhetoric. The analysis of these rhetoric leads the article to question the very specificity of these territories. It reveals the existence of a dominant discourse around the notion of innovation territories and examines the conceptual foundations of this metropolitan archetype. In a multidisciplinary approach, the reflection proposes to broaden the conception of innovation, by integrating social innovation, to consider plural territories of innovations. By examining new citizen initiatives in "marginalized" territories, the article tends to replace the metropolitan archetype by a typology of innovation territories. Hypotheses for characterizing these territories are put forward and into perspective with the emergence of alternative discourses on social innovation and a differential policy approach to innovation territories.

Policy for science by ballot or by roll call? Observations from stem cell research policymaking.

This study compares stem cell research policymaking by legislators and citizens in the United States. First, using exit poll results from a 2006 stem cell research initiative in Missouri, the study finds that deeply held personal values such as religious beliefs and views of abortion predominate in an individual's voting decision on this issue; second, an analysis of voting behavior by senators on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 finds that senators make their voting decisions based on their personal policy preferences rather than their constituents' preferences; and third, the complexity of the Missouri citizen initiative is compared with that of the legislation in the U.S. Senate, finding that the language of the citizen initiative is more sophisticated than the language of the legislative act. These findings provide the context for a broader discussion of the role of citizens and legislators in making policy for science.

Local Citizen Initiatives in Poland: The Disparity in Signature Requirements

In the social sciences, the attention is drawn to the relationship between instruments of direct democracy and signature requirement, because the latter may block the activity of citizens. Therefore, this paper focuses on signature requirements of local citizen’ initiatives (LCI), which is also analyzed from the perspective of the principle of equality. We identify: the legal threshold of support (LTS) and the actual threshold of support (ATS). The legal threshold is construed as the statutory requirement of support (quantified or specified as a percentage), whereas the actual threshold of support is the quotient of the number of signatures required and the total number of residents in a given district. With respect to the LCI, a district is an area of a municipality, poviat and voivodship. The ATS is an indicator used by us to study the principle of equality.

The role of activation of entrepreneurship activities in the development of rural areas in Ukraine

The article substantiates the role of entrepreneurship in the revival of rural areas of Ukraine. The main problems and obstacles for the development of modern agricultural business are presented. The attention is paid to the high share of households in the total production of agricultural products, as well as the crisis situation regarding the employment situation of the rural population. Possibilities of employment for the inhabitants of rural territories by activating the initiative of unemployed citizens to organize their own business activity are considered. The peculiarities and motives of the implementation of the diversification strategy for economic entities, including agricultural producers, are revealed. The existing and perspective directions of diversification in some regions in Ukraine are analyzed. The main directions of formation of organizational and economic mechanism of diversification of entrepreneurial activity at the expense of activation of new forms of employment of population are summarized, which will contribute to the complex socio-economic and ecological development of rural territories in Ukraine.

Creating Legitimacy for Citizen Initiatives: Representation, Identity and Strategic Networking

ABSTRACT Citizen-led initiatives raise practical and theoretical questions about the criteria by which their democratic legitimacy should be judged. While existing analytical and normative frameworks are problematically based on a `state'/`citizen' binary, a network ontology which sees these as strategically-deployed constructs is more practically adequate for analysis. We demonstrate this through a case of a successful citizen initiative, and conclude that such analysis should examine processes of strategic networking, along with claims and constructions of representation and identity. This means not taking participants' categories, identities, and evaluations for granted, and privileging the possibility of challenge as a fundamental democratic criterion.

Social organizations with law enforcement focus in Russia (emergence and development)

The object of this research is the social organizations with law enforcement focus. The subject of this research is the history of emergence and development of the institutions of social organizations with law enforcement focus. Comprehensive analysis of legal and organizational grounds in exercising citizens right to unionization is carried out. Application of the historical-legal method allowed viewing the conception, reorganization and termination of activity (at certain stage of development of the country), and then new development of social organizations with law enforcement focus. The formal-legal method was used for determination of legal status of the social institutions. Having legal confirmation, or at times emerging upon the initiative of citizens themselves due to inability of the local authorities to establish legal order, the population united for rendering assistance to the bodies of internal affairs with regards to public order maintenance. Taking diverse forms at different historical periods, social organizations with law enforcement focus continue to develop and improve, accumulating practical experience in counteracting criminality. The government, in turn, creates all essential legal conditions for voluntary participation of the citizens of the Russian Federation in public order maintenance. Direct participation in prevention of legal offences committed in public places, as well as holding preventative conversations with the wrongdoers, allows the population to broaden their knowledge in the field of law, as well give credibility to law enforcement authorities, which positively influences the formation of public opinion on the work of police overall.

Understanding citizens’ action for nature: The profile, motivations and experiences of Dutch nature volunteers

Active citizens are a crucial foundation of nature conservation, with a long history of commitment to natural history, conservation work, education and outreach. There is a strong need for greater understanding of these volunteers and their motivations, both to match volunteer management to the individual, but also more broadly to understand citizens’ action for nature.This study adds to the literature by surveying a broad sample of Dutch nature volunteers (N = 3775), including both formal volunteers and participants in nature-oriented citizen initiatives, providing insight into their profile, motivations, and attitudes regarding their volunteer work now and in the future. In addition to providing a broad overview, we also distinguish four types of nature volunteering (recorders, restorers, educators and administrators) to investigate differences in background and perspective.Our results highlight a generally high age and level of education among nature volunteers, and we find that two motivations are crucial regardless of activity type: contributing to nature conservation, and personal connection to nature. Aside from these, restorers appear to have a somewhat divergent pattern of motivations. While nature volunteers generally experience freedom and appreciation, they share great concerns over the perceived lack of younger volunteers.We argue that, while recognising nuanced differences is important, contemporary developments in the field of volunteering require nature organisations to recognise volunteers’ diverse activities and strengthen collaboration in current and new initiatives. Taking on the joint responsibility to appreciate and voice nature volunteers’ efforts and motivations is a promising route to stimulate current and future action for nature.

Combining the best of both worlds? Party members and citizens’ initiatives in Belgium

ABSTRACT The linkage function of political parties is put under pressure the last few decades (testified by increased electoral volatility and decline in party membership). As a result, it is assumed that citizens increasingly seek for other forms of participation, especially in their own neighborhood. These so-called ‘citizen initiatives’ are not organized by the political elite and they have no (formal) affiliations with political parties. But this ‘transformation thesis’ is questioned by the ‘pluralization thesis’ that assumes that party members combine different types of participation (including engagement in citizen initiatives). In this paper, we estimate whether party members are pursuing their goals (also) with other means than party membership, or whether citizen initiatives constitute a complete distinct form of participation. In addition, we investigate which factors at the individual (e.g. resources) and party level (e.g. ideology) correlate with participation behaviour. We rely on data gathered in recent party member surveys in five Belgian political parties. We find that that distinctions between types of participation are less clear-cut than often assumed, and that a considerable number of citizens act as ‘civic omnivores’ combining different types of participation (supporting the pluralization thesis). This is especially true for members of green parties.

Accommodative public leadership in wind energy development: Enabling citizens initiatives in the Netherlands

This research centers around the question: How can provincial governments take the lead in implementing an adaptive governance approach considering citizen-led wind energy development? A framework for ‘accommodative leadership’ was created - building on the work of Meijerink and Stiller (2013) regarding leadership in climate change adaptation, and the work of Sotarauta (2010) on place leadership. The combination of the two provides a leadership framework which aims to include both governmental actors and local citizens initiatives as potential leaders in wind energy development.Three cases studies in three regions of the Netherlands were assessed. The results show that provinces adopt various leadership styles, referred to as ‘facilitative decentralization’, ‘deliberative innovation’ and ‘authoritative reluctance’. Our conclusion is that there is no roadmap for effective accommodative leadership, as it occurs in many forms. Nonetheless the developed framework can be used by regional governments as an assessment tool to understand the roles and actions which can potentially be taken by this authority to purposefully allocate their leadership capacities, while allowing citizen-led wind energy development.

#CienciaenelParlamento: la necesidad de una oficina parlamentaria de asesoramiento científico y tecnológico

One of the aims of the citizen's initiative #CienciaenelParlamento is helping to establishing a parliamentary office of scientific and technological advice in the Spanish parliament. Said office would be in charge of fostering networking spaces between scientific knowledge and public policies and of triggering public debate between policy-makers, experts and the general public. In this article, we first review the main parliamentary mechanisms of scientific advice, with special attention to one in particular: parliamentary offices of scientific and technological advice. These offices exist in 22 parliaments worldwide, but there are none in Spain. Second, we describe the activity undertaken by #CienciaenelParlamento in its collaboration with the Congress of Deputies during the 12th Spanish Legislature. This collaboration reached its peak with a two-day networking event in November 2018 with over 200 scientists and almost 100 deputies, who all debated twelve topics of social interest and the most up-to-date scientific knowledge. Thanks to this collaboration, the Congress has taken the first steps towards officially establishing a parliamentary science advice office. Lastly, we enumerate some examples about how these parliamentary offices in other countries have contributed with other stakeholders to better public debate and processing of public policies in public health and other areas. To conclude, we at #CienciaenelParlamento believe that a parliamentary science advice office would help to enhance the science-policy ecosystem in Spain.