Громадські ради у політичному процесі сучасної України

Abstract

The analysis in the article is conditioned by the fact that the influence of public opinion on specific political, economic and social processes as well as interaction between civic society and state is crucially important in modern Ukraine. Particularly, in the form of public control which is carried out by public organizations, labor collectives, public initiatives and other stakeholders. This was revealed as the attitude to public councils in Ukraine is ambiguous: some call them the factor of civil society in Ukraine, others — «pocket organizations», a threat to public policy. The scholars' approach of understanding the role-played by public councils is laid in the political processes and their place in the political system, which is uneven as well. We can also state that the low level of citizen's awareness on the existence and functioning of public councils also generates myths among civic sector in this regard. Thus, there is a need in correction of the deformed idea of the Ukrainian public councils, which can be primarily done by conducting a detailed analysis of their activities. Taking into account these facts, the concepts, goals, tasks, composition and role of public councils in the political decision-making process as well as development of legal framework for their functioning in Ukraine are defined in this article. An analysis on the functioning of public councils has been carried out and the formation process of public councils and mechanisms of its establishment have been described by using empirical research. Also, this article proves the need of increasing the efficiency of public councils. Considering the above-mentioned information, the role played by public councils in the political process of modern Ukraine requires further study.