You are here

Home » Content

Citizen Participation in Decision Making Processes in Croatian Local Government Units

Journal Name:

  • International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations

Publication Year:

  • 2017

Key Words:

Author NameUniversity of Author
Abstract (2. Language): 
The structured dialogue is a powerful form of communication between citizens and decision makers in the local government units (LGUs). Present state analysis shows that the leaders of municipalities and cities are generally not open to the implementation of a structured dialogue, and that citizens are also not too interested for that process, because they do not believe they can make a difference. However, a literature review and analysis of the implementation of projects structured dialogue through the Youth in Action and Erasmus + programs indicates that there are success stories and examples of good practice in this area. These examples come also from the "neighbourhood", from small LGUs, not necessarily from highly developed countries or just from the big cities; but the number of those examples is low. This paper proposes a methodology for increasing the level of structured dialogue in fields of different social issues in small local government units in Croatia (or other LGU with similar characteristics outside Croatia). The methodology is based on the Deming cycle and Balanced scorecard (BSC). The methodology defines what actions need to be taken in order to come up with a solution to social problems in a LGU. To evaluate proposed methodology, it was applied to 5 LGUs. A prerequisite for the application of the methodology is the existence of the will and motivation of both parties (LGU and citizens) to work together on social issues. The paper proposes a brief question mark that can be used to quickly identify the readiness of local government to implement such a methodology.
Bookmark/Search this post with
FULL TEXT (PDF): 
PDF icon arastirmax-citizen-participation-decision-making-processes-croatian-local-government-units.pdf
  • 1
14
22
  • English

REFERENCES

References: 

[1] D. Potočnik, “Strukturirani dijalog s mladima u Republici Hrvatskoj”, Zagreb, 2011.
[2] European Commission, “Strukturirani dijalog u Hrvatskoj | European Youth Portal”, europa.eu, 2014. [Online]. Available: http://europa.eu/youth/node/20097_ro. [Accessed: 18-Jan-2016].
[3] European youth forum, “Position paper on structured dialogue”, Brussels, 2012.
[4] Zlatar Youth Association, “Being young in EU - How to start?”, 2013.
[5] Y. Laouris, A. Erel, M. Michaelides, M. Damdelen, T. Taraszow, I. Dagli, R. Laouri, and A. Christakis, “Exploring Options for Enhancement of Social Dialogue Between the Turkish and Greek Communities in Cyprus Using the Structured Dialogic Design Process”, Systemic Practice and Action Research, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 361–381, Oct. 2009.
[6] E. Choudhury, “Attracting and managing volunteers in local government”, Journal of Management Development, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 592–603, Jun. 2010.
[7] C. D. O’Connor, “Engaging Young People? The Experiences, Challenges, and Successes of Canadian Youth Advisory Councils”, 2013, pp. 73–96.
[8] T. Babila Sama, “Role of NGOs in the implementation of active labour market policies”, International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 121–143, Aug. 2012.
[9] T. A. Engbers, “Building community? The characteristics of America’s most civic cities”, Journal of Public Affairs, p. n/a-n/a, Apr. 2015.
[10] U. Sivarajah, Z. Irani, and V. Weerakkody, “Evaluating the use and impact of Web 2.0 technologies in local government”, Government Information Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 473–487, Oct. 2015.
[11] J. C. Bertot, P. T. Jaeger, and J. M. Grimes, “Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies”, Government Information Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 264–271, Jul. 2010.
[12] A. Planas, P. Soler, and M. Vilà, “Assessing youth policies. A system of indicators for local government”, Evaluation and Program Planning, vol. 45, pp. 22–28, Aug. 2014.
[13] E. Claver-Cortes, S. de Juana-Espinosa, and J. Valdés-Conca, “Emerging and Traditional ICT as Critical Success Factors for Local Governments”, in Emerging Mobile and Web 2.0 Technologies for Connected E-Government, IGI Global, 2014, pp. 258–279.
[14] D. Agostino, “Using social media to engage citizens: A study of Italian municipalities”, Public Relations Review, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 232–234, Sep. 2013.
[15] CIVITAS WIKI consortium, The use of social media to involve citizens in urban mobility projects and city planning. 2015.
[16] J. Xie and S. T. Ng, “Multiobjective Bayesian Network Model for Public-Private Partnership Decision Support”, no. September, pp. 1069–1081, 2013.
[17] V. Alireza, Y. Mohammadreza, R. M. Zin, and N. Noor, “An Enhanced Multiobjective Optimization Approach for Risk Allocation in Public Private Partnership Projects : A Case Study of Malaysia An Enhanced Multiobjective Optimization Approach for Risk Allocation in Public Private Partnership Projects : A Case Study”, vol. 177, no. November 2013, pp. 1–46, 2014.
[18] M. Danielson, L. Ekenberg, A. Ekengren, T. Hökby, and J. Lidén, “Decision process support for participatory democracy”, Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, vol. 15, no. 1–2, pp. 15–30, Jan. 2008.
[19] S. A. Chun and J. S. Cho, “E-participation and transparent policy decision making”, Information Polity, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 129–145, 2012.
[20] D. Rios Insua, G. E. Kersten, J. Rios, and C. Grima, “Towards decision support for participatory democracy”, Information Systems and e-Business Management, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 161–191, 2008.
[21] G. Dall’O’, M. F. Norese, A. Galante, and C. Novello, “A multi-criteria methodology to support public administration decision making concerning sustainable energy action plans”, Energies, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 4308–4330, 2013.
[22] Agencija za mobilnost i programe EU, “Rezultati natječaja u programu ‘Mladi na djelu,’” arhiva.mobilnost.hr, 2014. .
[23] Agencija za mobilnost i programe EU, “Rezultati natječaja Erasmus+”, mobilnost.hr, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.mobilnost.hr/hr/sadrzaj/natjecaji-i-vezane-informacije/izborn.... [Accessed: 05-Nov-2016].
[24] Croatian Government, “E-Savjetovanja”, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://esavjetovanja.gov.hr/.
[25] R. S. Kaplan, “Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard 1”, 2010.
[26] M. Martello, M. J. Fischer, and J. G. Watson, “Implementing a Balanced Scorecard in a Not-For-Profit Organization”, Journal of Business & Economics Research, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 67–80, 2008.
[27] Ž. Dobrović, M. Tomičić, and N. Vrček, “Towards An Effective e-Government : Implementation of a Balanced Scorecard in the Public Sector”, vol. 8011, no. 1, pp. 7–17, 2008.
[28] Hrvatski sabor, “Zakon o savjetima mladih.” Narodne novine, Zagreb, p. 8, 2014.
[29] materinstva i mladeži Republika Hrvatska, Državni zavod za zaštitu obitelji, “Nacionalni Program Djelovanja.” Državni zavod za zaštitu obitelji, materinstva i mladeži, Zagreb, 2002.
[30] branitelja i međugeneracijske solidarnosti Ministarstvo obitelji, “Nacionalni program za mlade od 2009. do 2013. godine.” Ministarstvo obitelji, branitelja i međugeneracijske solidarnosti, Zagreb, p. 87, 2009.
[31] Ministarstvo socijalne politike i mladih, “Nacionalni program za mlade od 2014. do 2017. godine.” Ministarstvo socijalne politike i mladih, Zagreb, p. 81, 2014.
[32] Salto Youth, “Young people with fewer opportunities”, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/otlas-partner-finding/help/young-peopl.... [Accessed: 18-Jan-2016].
[33] Vlada Republike Hrvatske, “Uredba o kriterijima, mjerilima i postupcima financiranja i ugovaranja programa i projekata od interesa za opće dobro koje provode udruge.” Narodne novine, Zagreb, 2015.
[34] N. Kadoic, “ICT technologies and structured dialogue experience of ‘Go, go, NGO!’ project”, in 2016 39th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO), 2016, pp. 1527–1532.

Thank you for copying data from http://www.arastirmax.com