Феномен гражданского участия в научном дискурсе: теоретические и методологические основания исследования

Аннотация

The attention of the world research practice nowadays is focused on the issues of citizens’ participation in solving public problems and society’ self-organization. On the one hand, this is due to the growth of civil and social activity of the population. On the other hand, it is caused by the erosion of public confidence in the institutions of representative democracy and people’s alienation from power and politics. In Russian society the issues related to civil participation are no less relevant. Over the past 15–2 0 years, the country has accumulated a lot of problems of a socio-economic nature, which manifest themselves at the socio-psychological level as well. According to Russian experts, the reason for this is the existing institutional conditions, including weak initiative and culture of civil society (R. Grinberg, V. Polterovich, L. Yakobson, L. Polishchuk et al.), in this regard, one of the key directions for solving the country’s domestic problems can be the development of public-state partnership and, accordingly, civil participation — a process through which public organizations, initiative groups or individuals are involved in relations with the state and other socio-political institutions in order to solve socially significant problems. Given the above, it is obvious that civic participation is one of the most important resources for social development today. The purpose of this research is to conceptualize the theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the civil participation issue, presented in the works of foreign and domestic scientists. Special attention is paid to the experience of applying methodological tools by social and humanitarian scientists to measuring the level, factors and potential of population’s inclusion in the practice of civil participation. The study of the world and Russian experience in measuring civic participation contributes to the further disclosure of the potential of this phenomenon in solving socially significant problems of the local community. Ultimately, the solution of these tasks is aimed at improving the interaction between society and the government, increasing public trust, and reducing social tension in Russia.