Communicative Resources of Public Chambers for the Formation of Public Opinion (on the example of a municipal territory)

The current situation in single-industry towns of the Ural Federal District has long suggested the need to build and implement a strategy for sociological support of work and search for public practices of Public Chambers in municipalities. Hence, the purpose of this study was to develop and substantiate a more advanced model of sociological support for the activities of the Public Chamber for the formation of public opinion in the municipal territory, understanding of the authorities of its usefulness, which, as a result, will significantly simplify the procedures for discussing projects for the formation of a comfortable urban environment and other projects to address issues of life support of the municipality by representatives of the socio-territorial community. The novelty of the material is characterized by the use of reflexive practices of the concept of “Good Governance” in building a model of “Effective Governance” for establishing communication processes, cooperation, and involving the population in the process of power management through the Public Chamber at the municipal level. Using the levels of civic engagement established by the citizen engagement standard, the institutional functions of the Public Chamber for the formation of public opinion, its institutional functions are specified as new formats for citizen engagement. An additional constructivist function is proposed: the formation, as a result of the manifestation of civil initiatives, of new social structures from public opinion leaders such as: public councils, city councils, possible communities, territorial self-government bodies subordinate to the Public Chambers of municipalities (as part of them), which is of interest in the study and clarification as another additional institutional function for the formation of public opinion and the involvement of citizens in resolving issues of local governments. On the basis of the experiment conducted on the territory of the municipality (Sverdlovsk region, 2021), the author formulates the new formats for the involvement of the citizens, and develops recommendations for local authorities that would contribute to the establishment of communication processes, cooperation, and further involvement of the citizens in the process of managing power by the population at the municipal level.

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