Local self-government as institute of public participation: Russian and Chinese trajectories of development

The work presents the analysis of organization and development of local self-government by Russia and China as the states with authoritarian modernization. Institutional conditions of local self-government and restrictions of institutional environment to local practices of public participation in the both states are considered. The findings reveal that local self-government in Russia and China does not render the role of public participation institution in the same manner as in the Western states. Russia attempts to approximate the local self-government institute to the Western patterns, whereas the degree of public participation in local self-government is limited. China formally and factually implements local self-government only in grassroots level. Nevertheless, in these local borders citizens’ engagement is more evident, than in Russian analogues.