IZMEĐU ISPUNJAVANJA FORME I PROMICANJA DEMOKRACIJE: STAVOVI JAVNOSTI I UPRAVNIH SLUŽBENIKA O E-SAVJETOVANJIMA U HRVATSKOJ
BETWEEN COMPLETING A FORMALITY AND FACILITATING DEMOCRACY: PUBLIC AND CIVIL SERVANTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS E-CONSULTATIONS IN CROATIA

Summary/Abstract: Citizens’ involvement in the regulatory process has become a very prominent issue in administrative science and practice. Despite growing and more refined interest in the topic, the complex issue of public participation effectiveness still preoccupies scholars. The existing research generally recognizes the desirability to recognize the perspectives of different actors involved in the participatory process. It also points at the existence of various actors’ perceptions with regard to participation effectiveness. Public consultations represent a common instrument of administrative participation. In Croatia, public consultations (e-consultations since 2013) represent a rather novel instrument for involving the public in the regulatory process, which has not undergone wide scientific analysis. The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes of two main categories of actors involved in e-consultations – civil servants and interested public (participants) – in order to answer the research question regarding the existence of different perceptions of e-consultations effectiveness. Research findings, obtained by means of questionnaires and interviews, suggest that civil servants’ and participants’ attitudes significantly differ in the evaluation of public influence as well as in the detection of the main problems related to e-consultations implementation, while the perceptions of the main purposes of e-consultations vary only moderately.

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