Citizen participation as one of the principles of open government

Abstract

In recent decades, citizen participation has become an instrument for deepening democracy and qualifying public management. Following this trend, some pioneering open government initiatives have included participation as one of their key principles. However, the meaning and characteristics of participation as a principle of open government have been superficially discussed by field literature. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to discuss different ways of classifying citizen participation and to distinguish which of its characteristics are considered adequate as an open government principle. In summary, the study demonstrates that citizen participation in the open government context must go beyond simple consultations, as it is necessary to guarantee citizens’ protagonism and involvement in political decisions. There must be real and active participation, in which citizens can make part of the policy process and take part in decisions, contributing to the strengthening of citizenship, deliberative democracy, and the legitimacy of decisions.