Public Participation In Decision-making Research Articles

The preferences for economic growth in the post-Soviet countries. A multicounty study

Although economic growth is always one of the priorities for a country, an ever-growing economy is unsustainable in the long run. Environment protection, public participation in decision-making, and, nowadays, even strong defense forces gain increasing importance for country sustainability. The paper studies trade-offs between national goals as impacted by the population values and attitudes in the post-soviet region. We study a representative dataset from eleven countries (N=20006, age 18+, M ± SD: 46,04 ± 17,07; 58% women, 46,8% upper education). Two indicators are utilized to determine the preferences for economic growth – the growth as the most important priority (the other three being military spending, public participation in social life, and aesthetics of city and countryside) and economic growth at the expense of environmental protection. Methodologically, we rely on correlations and confidence intervals for mean values (95%) analyses to study the associations and the country differences in preferences for economic growth. The results suggest that (1) post-Soviet countries are largely heterogeneous in their preference for economic growth as compared to other priorities, and geographically close countries may have opposing attitudes, and (2) the country-level correlations of the two indicators of preferences for economic growth produced opposite statistically significant correlations in different countries.

프랑스 ‘2004년 환경헌장’의 헌법규범적 성격

The Charter for the environment of 2004 was enacted following President Jacques Chirac's determination during his campaign to re-elect the presidency. The Charter for the environment of 2004 is the basis for environmental rights in the French Constitution.
 The Charter for the environment of 2004 was enacted to give declarative and symbolic character. The Charter for the environment of 2004 includes rights to a healthy environment (Article 1), access to information to the environment, and participation in public decisions affecting the environment (Article 7), as well as principles of prevention (Article 3), precaution (Article 5), and sustainable development (Article 6). The Charter for the environment of 2004 also includes fundamental rights of future generations (Articles 1 and 7).
 The French Constitutional Court recently recognized the constitutional normative effect of the Charter for the environment of 2004, developing a position that further restricts legislators' discretion. The French Constitutional Court takes a position to recognize the subjective rights and horizontal effect of Article 1 of The Charter for the environment of 2004, and shows an attitude that further restricts the freedom of legislative formation on the right to information and participation in Article 7.
 In the case of Korea, there is an interpretation that understands environmental rights as a national task norm or goal clause that presents the direction of national action with binding force to state institutions and denies the nature of the subjective right. This interpretation should be critically reviewed in terms of the purpose of recognizing environmental rights under the Constitution of the Republic of Korea and the need to deal with desperate environmental problems such as the global climate crisis.

The Importance of the Right to a Healthy Environment During the Pandemic

The protection and preservation of the environment and stable climatic conditions, as well as the right of public participation in environmental decision-making in public spaces, are emerging as topics of special significance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for integrated protection of natural goods of general interest, harmonization with the EU acquis, the need to simultaneously overcome the COVID-19 crisis and implement the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans raises numerous questions, some of them being: is environmental protection a priority during the pandemic and, if so, which aspects of environmental protection represent the primary concern; have the measures limiting public gatherings had an impact on public participation in decision-making; and, do the proposed legislative amendments and additions complete the environmental protection system, with clear criteria for an environmental impact assessment of the related activities and the decisions to support their pursuit?

Self-organization/self-mobilization of affected communities in impact assessment and decision-making: A case study in the Atrato River (Colombia)

Public participation in decision-making is one of the core principles of Impact Assessment. However, the mechanisms and processes that communities use to build organizational, consensual and knowledge capacities to get involved in decisions are yet to be better known. This paper aims to explore the implications of self-organized and self-mobilized participation in decision-making processes in the context of the Constitutional Ruling T-622/2016, which recognised the rights of the Atrato River (Colombia) to be healthy and ecologically supportive to the different populations, thus triggering a series of governmental actions supported by Impact Assessment. Through an exploratory approach guided by participant observation and supported by literature review, documentary research and interviews, it was revealed that social inequity and violence resulting both from governmental neglect and the lack of social and environmental rights are the main drivers of mobilization, followed by the violation of the community's traditional ties with the environment and, also, the coordination between grassroots communities and external actors. According to our findings, early meetings among stakeholders grounded on a balanced share of influence on decisions contributed to promote synergies in Impact Assessment and decision-making, thus leading to the previous identification of the likely causes of socio-environmental degradation and alternatives to mitigation.

Public participation in environmental impact assessment processes through various channels – Can you listen to us now? Lessons from a Brazilian mining case

Public participation in Environmental Impact Assessment processes is generally considered to be one of the main safeguards of ensuring access to information and democratization of decision-making processes regarding environmental issues. However, implementation is spotty. Studies highlight problems found within formal processes and so actors also turn to informal channels and other formal channels outside of the EIA process to achieve goals. While most research points to the role of collusion between industry and government (often to the detriment of the environment), civil society actors similarly use other channels (informal and formal outside of the EIA) to influence formal processes in the EIA to help realize improved environmental outcomes. Less is known however about how these channels interact – can they play a complementary role?Using a case study of a proposed mining project in southern Brazil (the Retiro Project), we examine the implementation of public participation processes. Echoing previous research around EIA processes in Latin America, we found that there is a discrepancy between law and practice regarding participation within formal processes within the EIA such as public hearings, leading actors to pursue other channels concurrently (informal and formal outside of the EIA) to influence these decision-making processes. Power asymmetries in the case – like many proposed development projects worldwide including in Brazil and Latin America – suggest that formal channels such as the public hearings within the EIA are not enough to ensure adequate public participation in decision-making. Rather, pursuing various channels of inputting into policy processes, while more complex, can be more effective.

Communication and governance in a linguistically diverse human settlement in South Africa

Background: Integrated human settlement initiatives are aimed at altering the apartheid housing patterns of the old South Africa that kept people of different races and languages apart.Aim: This article investigated how community leaders and municipal officials interact with their integrated constituencies to determine if the language(s) of communication used are unifying and are conducive for public participation in decision-making.Setting: The study was conducted at the eThekwini region in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in South Africa where isiZulu, an African language, is dominant in terms of the number of speakers, but English has prestige as a lingua franca.Method: The study was qualitative in that 15 participants were interviewed on their experiences, observations and perceptions of languages of communication usage in their integrated human settlement. The settlement was used as a case study and the participants were purposefully selected.Results: The findings indicated that isiZulu dominates as the preferred language of communication at meetings and in written documents where it is often presented alongside English. There were speakers of other languages that were not happy with the dominance of isiZulu.Conclusion: The dominant use of isiZulu bodes well for the promotion of African languages as they have in the past not been given the official status they deserve. However, its dominance in a multilingual environment it has the potential to make other community members feel linguistically discriminated against.Contribution: The study undertakes an interdisciplinary approach to provide a deeper understanding on the role of language in the governance of multilingual societies. It raises an awareness on the importance of finding a balance between using the dominant community language and recognising other languages to ensure full participation of all immaterial of diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Media or information literacy as variables for citizen participation in public decision-making? A bibliometric overview

Internet has become a new way of communication leading the transformation of the use of conventional communication though digital platforms, bringing a new paradigm in human interaction (Saputra et al., 2020) but having Internet access does not mean that citizens are using Internet effectively and successfully, at least for participating in public decision-making. The disruption of information and technology development without creating a media and information literacy as part of the digital education, create a phenomenon that is worrying for the sustainability of society. In critical areas for society such as entrepreneurship, this phenomenon is critical and highly determining. This paper analyses the Media and Information literacy applied to citizen participation theoretical framework through a quantitative Bibliometric Overview of the most important studies in the field. The main objective is to present a general overview of the selected research areas, determining which of both areas is more explored from the point of view of how these literacies are used to reach citizen participation in public decisions, with a clear link to business decisions linked to entrepreneurship.

Opposing out loud versus supporting in silence: who wants to participate in decision-making about energy projects?

Public participation in decision-making is widely expected to contribute to democratic society, better decisions, and higher public acceptability of energy projects. The realization of the desired functions of public participation depends, however, on who participates in decision-making. In opinion surveys about two planned wind parks in the Netherlands, we found that opponents were more willing to participate than supporters. Those who would not accept the project under any conditions were more motivated to participate than those who may accept the project if certain conditions were met. Furthermore, motivation to participate was associated with stronger negative emotions towards the project (e.g. angry, disappointed), and weaker positive emotions (e.g. happy, proud). Taken together, public preferences to participate in decision-making can affect the desired functions of public participation, as not everyone will equally participate. Our findings have important implications for energy policies primarily focusing on demographic representativeness in participation: it is also important to consider the representation of different perspectives in decision-making. Also, incorporating people’s different emotions towards energy projects can be a valuable route to effective public participation, in addition to the dominating rationalistic approach.

Direct democracy in the constitution: good or bad for democracy?

ABSTRACT Concerns about democratic decline and deficit have recently led to repeated calls for institutional changes that could enhance civil participation and direct voter participation in public decision-making (forms of direct democracy). An evergreen among the instruments proposed is the referendum, and in particular the constitutionally embedded referendum. This would grant a constitutional right to trigger a referendum and is something that is currently under consideration in the Netherlands. It is often assumed that constitutionally embedded referendums can correct systemic flaws in a representative democratic system, thus enhancing the overall democratic score of a country. This contribution considers these premises. By means of an empirical study, it examines whether the democracy index score of a country is related to constitutionally ratified rights to direct legislative influence of citizens, such as referendums and legislative initiatives by citizens. The initial results indicate that codifying referendum procedures as a constitutional right does indeed positively relate to the democratic scores of countries worldwide. This effect, however, does not hold true for the sample of EU countries studied.

Effective Public Administration as a Tool for Building Smart Cities: The Experience of the Slovak Republic

This study focuses on examining the requirements forming the concept of the right to effective administration in relation to the communication of local governments with their residents. We pay attention to the electronization of public administration and the ambition to strengthen it through public participation in decision making concerning important matters of self-government, as the implementation of effective public administration is linked to the right management approach. In the first part of the study, we analyze European jurisprudence and legislation, and we further address the question of how the European concept of local government influences the communication of local authorities with their inhabitants in relation to the realization of the means of direct democracy. We focus our attention on the current state of the electronization of public administration and its development, including cyber security. The main goal of this study is to use critical analysis to assess the legal regulation of the activities of the Slovak public administration. In addition to the main goal, we also have several sub-goals, such as making a comparison of the development of the electronization of public administration in the countries of the former Czechoslovakia. Especially with the use of critical analysis and other scientific methods of investigation, we look for and find answers to selected application problems from practice. We also use scientific and doctrinal interpretation as well as scientific literature and jurisprudence. As a result of our study, recommendations are made to ensure the more efficient functioning of smart cities in the Slovak Republic.

Citizen Participation in the Public Decision-Making Process at the Level of the Local Public Administration

Through citizen participation in public decision-making, the real needs of the community are and should be included in decisions that cover those needs and are thus publicly supported. From such a direction, this micro-research aims to examine the concrete situation regarding the participation of citizens in the decision-making process by interpreting the perceptions of residents and local public administration staff in Dărmăneşti commune, to highlight the effectiveness of citizen participation in adopting an administrative decision. The approach showed that both the majority of workers in the city hall and most of the locals in the commune, who provided us with answers in the survey, appreciate that the involvement of citizens in the public decision-making process is key to democracy. Most of both respondents categories states that the main arguments for consulting the public in the process of making a public decision are: the right of citizens, ensuring the effective adoption and implementation of decisions, the decisions taken are accepted/supported by society, promoting the transparency of the decision-making process. Expressing own choice, submitting requests to the local public administration, submitting written suggestions, informal discussions tend to be considered by both the surveyed staff and the responding residents as effectve and very effective ways. On the other hand, we have found that opinion polls are one of the least effective ways for citizens to participate, with most opinions, in the case of both categories of respondents, being recorded for the small and very small response varieties.

Coming to terms with public participation in decision making: Balancing clarity and impact in the Aarhus Convention

AbstractPublic participation in decision making plays an essential role in achieving sustainable development goals. The 1998 Aarhus Convention, a benchmark in this field, fosters this role and, in its Article 6, sets out procedures and standards for implementing public participation in decision making on specific activities. Given the widespread adoption and recognition of the Aarhus Convention, it is important to clarify these standards to guide the design of public participation regulation and its implementation and practice. To that end, this article identifies and analyses the major interpretative issues that arise from the terminology adopted in Article 6 and examines the balance between clarity in the terminology and the impact of the provision. The article also suggests a series of best practice principles for better implementing the Aarhus Convention and achieving effective public participation.

Information-communication policy of the state in crisis conditions. Current state, problems, prospects

Effective democracy requires effective mechanisms for society to influence public authorities. Interaction between government and citizens, active public participation in decision-making is the key to sustainable development, prosperity, and stability of state institutions, social programs, and economic growth. Political leadership and effective communication of the action plan to the public promote public order and security. In this paper, we explore the current state of information policy in a crisis. We used general scientific and special methods such as historical and philosophical, systemic, comparative. In the first part, we consider philosophical approaches to the concept of communication and the role of the state in shaping information policy. The second and third parts are devoted to specific examples of such policies within two countries: Ukraine and Azerbaijan. In conclusion, we argue that there are currently complex challenges for the information policy of both countries. This is especially true of health problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic and armed conflict. Differences in the prospects of regulating the information field of the two countries are caused by economic factors and political conditions. The ways of information society development on the example of each of the countries are considered.

Viewpoint: The far-reaching dangers of rolling back environmental licensing and impact assessment legislation in Brazil

In the context of compounding health, environmental, and climatic crises, Brazil may witness two of its most important environmental policy instruments, environmental licensing and impact assessment, be severely weakened. On May 13, 2021, the Chamber of Deputies passed a new General Law of Environmental Licensing, ignoring the concerns of civil society, scientists, and other relevant parties. If approved by the Senate and ratified by President Bolsonaro, this law will further undermine Brazil's increasingly fragile environmental protection and public participation in decision-making. Here, we review the bill's main provisions, highlighting potential far-reaching implications for environmental protection and governance, public participation in decision-making, and human rights in Brazil and beyond. Scientists can play an important role in debunking misinformation and advising Senators and the public opinion on the bill's dangerous effects.

Fragile states, decentralisation and the nature of barriers to citizen participation in local government: a view from Pakistan

The purpose of decentralisation reforms is to narrow the gap between the public and government and increase public participation in decision-making. However, empirical evidence from developing countries suggests otherwise. A case in point is Pakistan, even though it has a well-structured local government system consisting of three levels of government, district, tehsil and union councils. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s nascent but fragile democracy and the non-democratic nature of decision-making at the state level prevent public participation and as a result do not remove but rather create obstacles to citizens’ involvement in service delivery. This paper therefore argues that citizen participation in Pakistan’s local government system faces more barriers which are imposed by the centralised state rather than removing hurdles to community participation. I demonstrate that having well-structured local governments is not enough for community engagement instead of a nation-state’s strong commitment to pro-community participation. The aim of this study is to identify and examine the barriers to public participation and how they prevent participation in the local government service delivery process, especially when non-democratic countries such as Pakistan introduce local government reforms. A qualitative study was carried out with a questionnaire containing seven open-ended qualitative questions. The thematically analysed results show that the military establishment introduced local government systems which have used local governments to suppress community autonomy and prevent community participation. As there is a patron/client relationship between the central government of Pakistan and the feudal lords and local elites, local elites have indulged in corruption and favouritism which hinder public participation at the grassroots level in the local governments in the province of Sindh, in Pakistan.

Socio-economic principles of the functioning of economic entities of territorial communities

The productive functioning of economic entities requires due attention to socio-economic fundamentals. The creation of transparent and favorable conditions for business, the development of infrastructure, and the provision of financial support and incentives for innovative projects help to attract investment and create new jobs. In addition, active communication, interaction, and partnership between economic entities and territorial communities are key factors for the success of both parties. This includes sharing experiences, joint planning and decision-making, and public participation in decision-making processes. This approach will help support and develop local enterprises, create a favorable environment for business development, and improve the quality of life in communities. The article aims to examine the main components of the activity of economic entities and their impact on the development of territorial communities. The article analyzes the peculiarities of the socio-economic development of economic entities. The study identifies the key aspects of economic entities’ development, namely: support of small and medium-sized businesses; advisory assistance to market entities; drafting strategic plans for the development of territorial communities; support of local infrastructure, education, healthcare, etc.; and public participation in discussion and decision-making. The article substantiates the process of decentralization reform and its impact on the socio-economic development of economic entities. The regulatory and legal components of relations between economic entities and local governments are characterized. The main areas that will facilitate efficient cooperation between economic entities of territorial communities and local governments are identified.

Потенциал Орхусской конвенции для формирования международно-правового механизма охраны озера Байкал

As part of the project to build the concept of international legal protection, Lake Baikal, supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, considered the key provisions of the 1998 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, the so-called Aarhus Convention, and the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) 2003, bearing in mind, above all, their potential for developing the mechanism of international legal protection of Lake Baikal. It was analyzed the experience of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Belarus in implementing the provisions of these international instruments into national legislation, as well as the creation and development of the Aarhus Centers in these countries of the post-Soviet space. The experience and current position of the Russian Federation on the perception of the provisions and mechanisms of the Aarhus Convention in the national legal system and law enforcement practices are highlighted. The conclusion that the use of conventional mechanisms for access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters enshrined in these international instruments to preserve the unique ecosystem of the Lake Baikal World Heritage Site is justified.

Public participation in decisions on specific activities in Ukraine: state of the art and way forward

The article provides a critical analysis of the state of development of participatory democracy instruments in Ukraine in particular of access to information relevant to the decision-making and public participation in environmental matters. The piece explores the major regulatory shifts in these areas brought by implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and associated adoption of legal frameworks on access to public information and on environmental impact assessment. Current legislative proposals on industrial emissions soon to be considered by the Parliament of Ukraine are analysed in detail to demonstrate the continuation of the trend. This leads to a conclusion that access to information and public participation in decisions on specific activities in Ukraine are developing in conformity with the European standards and will continue to develop both in terms of further digitalisation, automatization and customisation for the needs of a specific decision-making, and in terms of covering more environmental permits and other decisions on specific activities.

міжнародні екологічні договори: забезпечення дієвості та ефективності (на прикладі Орхуської конвенції)

The article examines the state and prospects of ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of international environmental agreements, in particular the Aarhus Convention. The Aarhus Convention, ratified by the Law of Ukraine of July 6, 1999, enshrines the right of access to information, the right of public participation in decision-making and the right of access to justice in

Участь громадськості у прийнятті державних рішень, захист навколишнього природного середовища та демократія

Аргументовано, що підвищення рівня інформаційної обізнаності громадськості з питань охорони довкілля та забезпечення її широкої участі у прийнятті державно-управлінських рішень щодо охорони навколишнього середовища має бути пріоритетом держави, яка прагне налагодити ефективну взаємодію з громадськістю. Зазначено, що, своєю чергою, участь громадськості при розробленні державної політики допомагає вирішенню складних соціальних та екологічних проблем суспільства. Доведено, що зазначене є однією з основних передумов розвитку демократії. Розглянуто основні міжнародні та національні нормативні акти у сфері охорони навколишнього природного середовища. Наведено рівні участі громадян на різних етапах процесу прийняття державно-управлінських рішень. Розглянуто поняття екологічної демократії та визначено, що розвиток освіти і поширення екологічної інформації стимулюють відповідальність громадськості у вирішенні екологічних питань.