Volume 9, No. 1 Summer 2008 Local Governance Brief Policy Journal of the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Beyond Elections Public Participation and Local Decision-making in Central and Eastern Europe Public participation in local decision- making is the theme of this new issue of the LGB. The articles illuminate the experiences, problems, and solutions that can or cannot make citizens’ parti- cipation in government easier and more effective in the post-communist coun- tries of Central and Eastern Europe. The region is part of a groundswell of prac- tice that has created more participatory forms of governance around the world. This remaking of governance is evident both in the demand for participation and in the attempts of some local authorities to redesign their institutions and policymaking processes in order to meet the demand. But a nagging dissat- isfaction on both sides leads citizens, NGOs, and other civic groups to com- plain about how local authorities con- fuse giving information on local affairs to the public with consulting the public on policies or interventions already largely decided in advance, and finally with truly participatory processes of engaging citizens in the early phases of policy or project developments. Public Participation in Local Decision-making in CEE ................3 The Struggle for Hunyadi Square ..............................................53 CLEAR: Understanding Citizen Participation ............................. 7 The Community Budget .............................................................58 Making the Most of the Policy Moment ....................................12 Participation and the Case for Open Society ............................62 Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making ..........18 Participatory Planning Is the Worst Form of Planning Local Flavors of a Global Recipe ................................................23 —Except for All the Others ................................................ 67 Public Participation in Infrastructure Investments .................... 28 The Managing Multiethnic Communities Program Interviews (1) .............................................................................. 31 and Public Participation .....................................................69 Warts ‘n’ All .................................................................................38 New Publications in 2008 .........................................................70 Interviews (2) .............................................................................44 Making the Most of EU Funds for the Roma ............................72 An Urban Regeneration Model ................................................. 47 Local Governance Brief Local Governance Brief is published in Budapest, Hungary, by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative, About LGI Open Society Institute–Budapest. Editor in Chief: Masha Djordjevic The Local Government and Public Service Reform Editorial Board: Adrian Ionescu Initiative (LGI), publisher of the Local Governance Petra Kovács Brief, is an international development, policy research, Violetta Zentai and grant-giving project of the Open Society Institute Managing Editor: Tom Bass (OSI). Its mission is to promote democratic and Editorial Advisor: Ari Korpivaara effective government, primarily in Central and South Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Printing: Createch Ltd. LGI supports public administration reform decent- ralization, improvement of governance techniques, © August 2008, Local Government and Public and public policy formulation. Service Reform Initiative/OSI Budapest. All rights reserved. One of the most challenging issues facing open OSI logo TM and © Open Society Institute. society in Central and South Eastern Europe, the All rights reserved. Newly Independent States, and new countries covered by OSI activities, is effective, democratic ISSN: 1785-6078 governance. Transition offers many examples of weak states that have been captured by small Articles included in Local Governance Brief express groups who use public power in pursuit of personal the opinions of the authors but do not necessarily advancement. Good governance means that insti- reflect the opinions of LGI or OSI. tutions at the central and subnational levels listen to, and consult with, society. This can only happen if Any comments or submissions should be directed state institutions want to engage society, they know to Masha Djordjevic, [email protected]. how to do so, and they have developed transparent rules and procedures to that effect. Furthermore, For subscription requests, send an e-mail to citizens require the skills to articulate and lobby [email protected]. their interests. There is a great deal of social and political learning Open Society Institute–Budapest to be done on both sides of the power divide. En- Local Government and Public Service hancing the capacity of all to work toward solutions Reform Initiative to stubborn social problems lies at the heart of Október 6 utca 12 LGI’s agenda. H–1051 Budapest, Hungary Tel: (+36-1) 327-3100 Fax: (+36-1) 327-3105 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://lgi.osi.hu/ Public Participation in Local Decision-making in Central and Eastern Europe Masha Djordjevic Introduction Striking a balance between governor and governed is that public participation is necessary to make public a quandary in every circumstance of democracy, and policies better, more responsive to local needs, and local public authorities often complain that citizens are more easily implemented due to wider public support uninterested in putting their effort and time towards and a shared responsibility for collaborative decisions. engaging with local affairs. However, research shows The international donors in the region frequently that citizens often find the existing official channels for supported public participation ideas but such donor- making one’s voice heard inadequate, unresponsive, and driven initiatives often lead to a glut of unrelated local a waste of time. efforts without an overall, genuine public participation Local consultations often bring only cosmetic strategy about when, how, and to what purpose to invite changes to the predetermined interventions of local citizen engagement, and how to incorporate the public authorities responsible for undertaking the planning response into the institutional procedures. work. Processes around the world show that even when The articles in this LGB address questions about there is a public demand, either from citizen groups or what is really participatory in the current practices of NGOs representing interests of various social groups, decision-making across the countries of Central and public institutions do not know how to respond Eastern Europe, and whether there is any evidence of by making the local decision-making process more local public institutions opening to more frequent participatory as opposed to ad hoc initiatives that do not and meaningful citizen input in environmental pro- lead to sustainable institutional change. tection, investments in technical infrastructure, land- Public participation in the hands of local decision- use planning, managing multiethnic communities, makers in the transitional countries of Central and neighborhood rehabilitation, planning of local budgets, Eastern Europe has been little more than a convenient and general development strategy planning. This issue buzzword for politicians attempting to establish their aims to detect the differences and similarities and to credentials as democratic reformers. The rhetoric of identify the challenges to developing truly participatory participation entered the political language of politicians institutions that lay ahead. and bureaucrats much faster than any true understanding: Summer 2008 • 3 LGI • Local Governance Brief The content of the contributions making? Most of the contributors, especially in the interviews, agree that citizen participation in public The article by Vivien Lowndes and Lawrence Pratchett decisions is widely acknowledged as important, but presents a conceptual tool, CLEAR, for understanding rarely implemented in practice. In fact, access to local locally specific factors that influence the success of institutions is provided as long as actual citizen influence government-developed initiatives to engage citizens in remains marginal. There is a tendency to engage in local decision-making processes. CLEAR was developed more consultations with citizens and civil society by British researchers and is being adapted by the organizations, but no tendency to engage citizens in real Council of Europe as a self-diagnostic tool for local decision-making, a process that still lacks transparency. authorities across Europe. Then Tricia Zipfel and John The authorities tend to apply participatory procedures Gaventa explore the example of an advanced democracy only when they need justification for their decisions or like Great Britain and its recent developments in when ignoring public input would seriously damage the institutionalizing citizen participation through the implementation of a project. convergence of agendas for citizen participation and Some contributors argue that there is a tendency local government reform. to restrict public engagement in some areas where it The most developed area in terms of legal regulations was allowed or requested in the first wave of liberal and the practice of citizen consultation is environmental regulations enforced under