Політичні дослідження (Apr 2023)
Tools of deliberative democracy: possibilities of application in wartime and post-war timesin Ukraine
Abstract
The concept of deliberative democracy is one of the attempts to improve and „expand” the boundaries of modern representative democracy. It exists to bring additional mechanisms for thoughtful, reasoned and broader discussion of socially important issues, as well as to use the consensus potential of deliberation to resolve conflicts and consider sensitive issues.Taking into account the considerable attention paid to this concept by the European Union and international organizations, as well as the public demand for discussion of important issues of the functioning of the state even in the conditions of full-scale Russian aggression, the article examines the possibilities and features of using the tools of deliberative democracy during the war and the expected post-war recovery.The author analyzes the results of researches on the experience of other countries traumatized by wars or violent conflicts, as well as the trends of 2022 — the beginning of 2023, which indicate the formation of initiatives in Ukraine to discuss the fundamental issues of state development, post-war reconstruction, and possible changes to the social contract. This is the basis for substantiating the relevance of the search for deliberation tools to increase the effectiveness of discussions and resolve possible resource and other conflicts.The peculiarities of the previous experience of implementing a number of public participation tools in Ukraine, in particular the problems of organizing public consultations, the work of public councils, surveys in the Diya mobile application, are also analyzed in the article. According to the results, the need to improve these tools and increase their deliberative potential is noted. In addition, the positive experience of implementing a number of other, relatively new for Ukraine, deliberative practices (in particular, dialogue and public consultations in a dialogical approach) was analyzed. The author notes that this experience can become an important basis for organizing deliberative discussions during the war and post-war reconstruction.
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