Od kilku dekad, nie tylko w Wielkiej Brytanii, obserwować można spadające zainteresowanie obywateli uczestnictwem w polityce i symptomy kryzysu demokracji przedstawicielskiej. Za jeden ze sposobów przeciwdziałania temu zjawisku uważa się wykorzystanie nowych technologii. Z jednej strony ich upowszechnienie umożliwia obywatelom szeroki dostęp do informacji, z drugiej rozszerza oferowane im możliwości udziału i wpływania na decyzje polityczne. Celem artykułu jest omówienie i analiza polityki kolejnych brytyjskich rządów dotyczącej wykorzystania Internetu do budowania skuteczniejszych kanałów komunikacji na poziomie lokalnym w Anglii i wzmocnienia demokracji. Wykorzystane metody badawcze to przede wszystkim analiza dokumentów oraz źródeł wtórnych. Szczególna uwaga została skupiona na analizie regulacji dotyczących wprowadzenia i rozwoju na poziomie lokalnym jednego z najpopularniejszych mechanizmów e-demokracji w Wielkiej Brytanii, który doczekał się regulacji ustawowej – elektronicznych petycji.

The article analyzes the relations between political trust - one of the most important values in the life of political communities - and election-related behaviors in the narrow meaning of voting. Researchers investigate the phenomenon of decreasing turnout as one of the expressions of democratic crisis. When studying such a complex problem, it is essential to search for multi-theme causes which might be helpful in understanding the topic and possibly finding a solution for it. The author of this article, while assuming the correctness of analyzes conducted thus far, which indicate that the problem lies in weaker attachment to political parties, less interest in politics and inadequate tools, raises questions whether the decreasing turnout in individual states may be related to the level of trust that citizens put in political institutions and whether there is a relation between these both indicators. In order to answer these questions, the author employs a quantitative analysis of data which derive from reports containing percentage levels of political trust and turnout in the elections, a comparative analysis, as well as an overview of literature on the subject.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the public administration mechanisms of electronic petitions (e-petitions), scientific and theoretical justification of recommendations to Ukrainian authorities on their improvement. The paper analyzes the approaches to defining the essence of the concepts of individual and collective e-petitions. The mechanisms of e-appeals (e-petitions) at the national and local levels have been studied. A comparison of the mechanisms of formation and submission of e-petitions in the Ukrainian legislation has been made. It is proposed to improve the interaction of national and local levels by redirecting petitions from local authorities to national executive bodies. The main shortcomings of the existing mechanism of public administration of e-petitions at the national level have been identified. In the process of analyzing the shortcomings of the organizational and legal mechanism, foreign experience and its possibility use in Ukraine were taken into account. Considering the identified shortcomings should further increase the level of civil society involvement in public administration of public affairs and, as a consequence, accelerate the democratization of Ukrainian society and Ukraine as a full member of the European community. In order to assess the level of availability of the electronic individual petitions tool, a study of the official web resources of central and local executive bodies was conducted and ways to improve the practical implementation of the e-petition tool in order to increase its accessibility were identified. The main identified shortcomings are: staffing issues (personnel quality); accessibility and transparency of e-democracy tools for citizens; lack of a unified approach to the implementation of e-appeals (petitions); lack of bottom-up redirection mechanisms; low civil society awareness of public authorities’ responsibilities and powers; lack of mechanisms for imperative execution of e-petitions, etc. Based on the analysis of international experience of implementation of e-appeals (e-petitions), the ways to improve national legislation have been proposed and the recommendations for central authorities, local governments and civil society organizations have been developed to improve the organizational and legal mechanism of public administration of e-democracy tools (electronic individual and collective petitions). The main ones are as follows: amendments to a number of legislative acts, including the conceptual and strategic level; taking into account the imperative implementation of e-petitions; actualization of the issue of administrative and criminal liability for non-compliance with the requirements of the legislation regarding the implementation of e-petitions.

The paper presents the results of analysis of the status of organizational and legal mechanism of public administration of electronic consultations (e-consultations) as well as scientific and theoretical substantiation of recommendations to Ukrainian authorities on their improvement. The study of national and international laws in regard to functioning of the mechanism of e-consultations has been conducted to determine positive and negative factors influencing its application. Ways to improve specified mechanism regarding the structure of units of central (regional, local) executive bodies and local governments, legal normative acts concerning e-consultations and participation of public councils in the process of e-consultations have been offered. The main shortcomings of the organizational and legal mechanism of public administration of national e-consultations have been identified, including: low 36 Yanis Yansons quality of e-consultations; unwillingness of the subjects of power to allow the civil society to have a real impact on state affairs, lack of responsibility for ignoring the law in regard to organization and conduct of e-consultations, distrust of the authorities and “digital inequality” etc. Based on the analysis of international experience in implementing the tool of e-consultations, ways to improve the procedure for its implementation in Ukraine, changes to national laws and recommendations to central (regional, local) executive bodies and local governments, public councils and the civil society to improve the organizational and legal mechanism managing tool of econsultations implementation, operation and development.

The article considers the problems of scientific comprehension of electronic participation from the point of view of public administration. Attention is paid to the highest form of e-democracy, namely the involvement of citizens in decision-making through ICT. The theoretical and methodological bases of research of electronic participation are defined - its levels, models, directions are analyzed. It is proposed to consider the process of involving citizens not only from a purely technological perspective, but taking into account a wider range of factors. The influence of social factors on the process of public involvement is characterized. Insufficient motivation of the citizens to interact with the government is highlighted as one of the most important obstacles to the development of e-democracy. The leading role in overcoming the existing problems is given to the fundamental science of public administration, whose task is not only to study the features of separated tools of e-participation, but also to determine strategic priorities for involving citizens in decision-making for sustainable development. The main strategy for increasing the interest of citizens in cooperation with the authorities and improving their decision-making skills in the information society is the formation of an efficient system of civic education.

Electronic voting has attracted much interest recently. One of the European, and perhaps even global leaders in the application of electronic voting procedures into elections is Estonia. The citizens of that small European country have had the possibility of voting online since 2005. The goal of this study is to provide a theoretically focused and empirically grounded analysis of the use of electronic voting (that is one of the instruments of e-democracy) in Estonia. This paper does not intend to cover all the details of the country’s experience with e-voting. Its coverage is limited to providing data on the influence of electronic voting on the final turnout in certain elections in Estonia. This study investigates the consequences of Internet voting in local, national and European parliamentary elections in Estonia. In particular, the analysis aims to determine whether this new form of voting could increase turnout.

The last decades have been a time of dynamic changes in the scope of public management tools, as well as a gradual increase in the participation of citizens at every stage of public decision-making. That is why application of ICT tools in practice of public policy implementation is currently a popular direction of public administration development. The aim of the article is to analyse how this postulate is implemented on the example of Polish participatory budgets. On the basis of quantitative research the authors have analysed participatory budgets that function in towns with powiat rights. In the conclusions it is stated that ICT are applied only partially within the public policy environment and are used to popularise participatory budgets and to facilitate the process of voting for the submitted propositions.