მოქალაქეთა ჩართულობის ბარიერები საქართველოს ადგილობრივ თვითმმართველობებში

The present thesis aims to reveal the barriers to citizens’ participation in the local selfgovernance.
It
includes
the
attitudes
of
local
authorities,
NGOs
and
civil
society
representatives

about
participatory
barriers.
Citizens’
involvement
in
the
management
process
has
a
significant

impact

on the development of democratic processes. The mechanism of participation brings
closer the public and the government, and at the time gives opportunity to the society to have
influence on the decisions of elected or appointed persons, to determine priorities, and to
require accountability and responsibility. Governance based on the contribution creates source
of information, knowledge and experience that facilitates disposal of existing resources in
accordance with public interests. Despite the fact that final decisions are taken by the
authorities, citizens deliver their opinions, alternatives and directions to local institutions
through dialogue. Partnership between the local population and the local authorities makes
decisions more open and transparent, which ensures efficient work of self-government and
legitimacy of its policies. Nowadays, the level of involvement of citizens in the local selfgovernance
of
Georgia
is
very
low,
which
is
due
to
various
barriers.
The
purpose
of
this
study
is

to

find out the barriers of participation. The Master’s Thesis is based on the synthesis of
qualitative and quantitative research. By 200 persons were interviewed by quantitative research
method (semi-structured questionnaire), and 14 persons were interviewed by qualitative
research method (in-depth interview), in total 214 respondents were interviewed. The study
area was the city of Mtskheta and the self-governing city Rustavi. The main focus is made on
the forms of citizens' engagement, participatory barriers, as well as on the existing practice of
participation and assessment of the legislative base of Georgia. According to the survey results,
the self-governance does not have the proper power to ensure participation of the population.
Barriers to citizens' involvement are mainly related to low level of awareness and education.
The difficulties in the direction of participation are also caused due to the shortcomings in the legislative database. It was established that administrators and civil society members have no
political will to participate in the process of policy development. In order to legitimate the
decisions taken by elected bodies, the active participation of the public is important. The
effective governance is achieved by three-dimensional dynamics between local authorities,
NGOs and population. This work may be interesting for people who are interested in the
engagement barriers.