Development of the civil society as a factor of the implementation of «good governance» principle in Ukraine

• Main Author: S. S. Volynets
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Grani 2017-03-01
• Series: Aspekti Publìčnogo Upravlìnnâ
• Subjects: громадськість; неурядові організації; громадянська культура; політична грамотність; участь громадян у виробленні та реалізації публічної політики
• Online Access: https://aspects.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/300

Principles of «good governance» have been investigated in the article and the impact of civil society development on their effective implementation has been determined. In a broad sense, “good governance” is understood as democratic, responsible, effective, transparent and accountable governance. It has been emphasized in the study that “good governance” is an effective form of public participation in the implementation of public policies, establishing proper coordination and cooperation between the government and the society on the principles of “subject - subject” partnership relations. Unlike the public administration, which implements already made decisions, “good governance” takes care of policy of society’s participation in decision-making and transparency of the process of the decision-making. Principles of “good governance” have been analyzed in the article, as there are defined in the European Strategy for Innovation and “good governance” at the local level, UN Program “Governance and sustainable development of human potential” and the UN Program for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT). Based on this analysis, the influence of the civil society development on the effective implementation of the principles of “good governance”, quality of decisions adopted and approved decision, which were made with the involvement of civil society, have been proved. Taking this into account, the complex problems that characterize the state of civil society in Ukraine have been examined in the article. They include: lack of institutional, financial and human resource capacity of non-governmental organizations; underdeveloped civil and political culture, low political literacy; high level of the public support for the paternalistic nature of the state; distrust between the authorities and the public society; inadequate implementation of mechanisms for public participation in the formation and implementation of public policy. The following conclusion has been made that these problems prevent the effective implementation of standards and the principles of “good governance” in Ukraine and they must be solved. The next solutions have been suggested in the article: to support the creation of high political, civil and legal culture of the population, who understand its rights and levers of influence over the authorities; to change the government’s attitude to the public society being a partner, not the opponent; to intensify the process of privatization of all spheres of social life, the development of different forms of public authorities and social initiatives; to expand public levers of influence at the government. As a result, the assumption has been made that the implementation of these steps will influence positively the further development of civil society and the effective implementation of the principles of “good governance” in Ukraine.