Scholarly record

MECHANISMS TO PROMOTE CIVIC PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Lyubov Nevelichko, R. Bazhenov, N. Nikolaeva, A. Tcytcarev, I. Vorotilkina

Abstract

The vital need of the present-day development of Russian society regulates the theoretical conceptualization of the notion of civic participation, determination of the conditions under which it can develop, and identification of barriers obstructing this process. Promotion of the local population’s social participation in public activities of municipalities is one of the primary tasks for a local government. The aim of the research is to identify means and conditions for promoting civic engagement in local communities at the municipal level. The scholars use methods of structural –functional, comparative, and systemic as well as factor analysis for their studies. The authors come to the conclusion that civic engagement at the municipal level is possible to mobilize through the process of dialogue, local authorities and population’s mutual interest in cooperation. Maintaining a local community is rather difficult because of closed customary authorities on the one hand and socially uncooperative population groups on the other hand, an immature civil society. The agents’ relationship of social interaction is treated as a principal factor that shapes steady and sustained functioning of society. It results in establishing a local community as a whole. The authors indicate factors that define socially inactive population in municipalities, and the rationale for improving the pattern of cooperation between the government and population.

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