Local government in Ukrainian cities: Differences between Views of Citizens and Local Authorities

Анотація

The aim of the article is to examine the level of difference between ordinary citizens and representatives of local authorities regarding their assessments of the functioning of the city government and opportunities for citizens’ participation in local governance processes. The article makes use of the data from the sociological survey conducted in the summer of 2014 in 15 cities of Ukraine with respondents among ordinary citizens, city council deputies and civil servants at the city level. The survey results reveal statistically significant differences between opinions of ordinary citizens, city council deputies and department heads of the local administration executive authority. Furthermore, opinions of city council deputies fall between those of the two other categories of respondents. In general, representatives of local authorities assess the functioning of local government as well as opportunities for ordinary citizens to participate in local governance processes much more positively than ordinary citizens do. Strong correlations are found between citizens’ opinion on local governments’ information dissemination activities and their attitudes towards a variety of aspects of local government performance. As means to reduce the discrepancies between local authorities and the population the authors suggest a systematic provision of information from city authorities to citizens and vice versa, and enhancing the level of interaction between them. In addition, broad educational campaigns as well as programmes to improve the image of city authorities in the eyes of citizens are suggested as being necessary.

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