Abstract

Research of empiric experience of civic participation in the local self-governance in contemporary Russia shows an incomplete picture of scholarship on the issues of municipal democracy along with the conditions of its development and the possible risks imposed by such a development. A performed analysis allows formulating definitions of some of the key terms of civic participation in the local self-governance. Municipal democracy here is defined as a political regime in which a municipal public authority is carried out through the direct rule of people by means of election of members of the local parliaments with assistance of the executive bodies and with an active popular participation in the exercise of the local self-governance with an ultimate goal of sustaining life of a local community. In turn, a municipal political regime is introduced as a unity of formalized written and unwritten rules and procedures of formation of local self-government bodies, of their interactions related to the decision-making and the management of the municipal resources and their relations with the state governing structures, civil society institutions, federal, regional and local elites, and citizens. The term ‘risk of municipal democratization’ is introduced to reflect a situation in the local political system, where there exists a probable danger that if one of the different alternative options of exercise of local self-governance in the local municipality is selected, a choice of it can lead to a failure of attainment of specified goals, or to a non-resolution or a poor resolution of issues of local significance. Besides, the work also identifies the key points of risk management in the sphere of municipal democracy.

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