PARTICIPATION AND INDIFFERENCE: SOME DATA TO THE STATE OF SOCIAL PARTICIPATION IN HUNGARY
PARTICIPATION AND INDIFFERENCE: SOME DATA TO THE STATE OF SOCIAL PARTICIPATION IN HUNGARY

Summary/Abstract: A growing attention and public need is experienced concerning public participation (PP) in the last two decades all over the world. However, it has a different pattern in former communist countries than in states with a longer democratic tradition. We studied the case of Hungary focusing on institutional and social attitudes towards PP. Our results prove that in spite of the generally supportive legal environment, still there are a number of obstacles. Our survey, based on questionnaires, shows a remarkable relation between trust in democratic institutions and commitment to PP. Also important differences between age groups and settlement types were detected, which question some former hypotheses about participation. According to our study we can say that public participation is not an alternative to representative democracy, but an important measure to deepen democratic decision making. To become active in PP processes, a certain level of general trust is needed, but also a critical attitude to institutions of representative democracy increases willingness of participation. It is also important that in Hungary, in spite of the existing diffi culties, there is social and institutional acceptance for a more intensive use of participatory techniques.

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