Basic Report

As the local councils are expected to assume greater roles and authorities in accordance with the full revision of the Local Autonomy Act implemented in January 2022, this study aims to explore ways to promote citizen participation in local councils.
   To this end, three different views on citizen participation are considered, which include 1) the view which considers citizen participation as an alternative to representative democracy, 2) the view which considers citizen participation as means of forging democracy at the grassroots level, and (3) the view which considers citizen participation as a way to enhance communication between government and local residents, and by doing so, enhancing resident’s acceptability of public policy as well as trust in government.
   Additionally, a model for citizen participation in local councils is proposed, building on theories of functions and roles of the local council and types of citizen participation.
   By analyzing the legal system as well as any efforts towards reform related to citizen participation in local councils, we identify the current problems as well as challenges of citizen participation. This study suggests that the law on the fundamental rights of residents as well as the role of the council chairperson should be revised, in a way, to ensure strong participation of citizens in local governance. Moreover, we recommend that the petition process should be improved and made accessible.
   In addition, this study proposes improvement plans for consideration at the organization, human resources, and finance levels, which further foster citizen participation in local councils.
   Considering that this study is an initial explorative study on citizen participation in local councils, it employs qualitative analysis on varying cases of citizen participation in the local council.
   Cases of citizen participation in the US legislative parliamentary process and of resident participation in various local councils at home and abroad are reviewed to propose a framework for developing and presenting a modular local council resident participation model for use in different regions, tailored to their local contexts and specific needs.
   Moreover, several cases were analyzed to identify areas for improvement for an ‘E-Petition system’ and a ‘Local Residents E-direct system’, which, in turn, provides a foundation for expanding opportunities for direct resident participation. This study also suggests an alternative way to efficiently use both online and offline resident participation systems tailored to the local situations and needs and how to improve the current monitoring system of local council activities and performance.
   Lastly, considering the low levels of awareness regarding the need for and method of resident participation in the local council, ways to increase such awareness among local communities are provided.
   This study would contribute to developing various ideas of resident participation tailored to local situations from short-term and long-term perspectives. In particular, this study would help local councils develop measures to assume greater roles and responsibilities whilst building a trusting relationship with local communities during the process of institutional change, such as diversifying the composition of the local government bodies.
   Despite its limitations as an early-stage study, this study contributes to expanding our understanding of resident participation in local councils by employing interviews with local council secretariats and experts as well as the analysis of various international cases. Further studies should be conducted to understand the role of resident participation in local councils and to identify better ways to foster their participation in local governance.