Problems and prospects of the Russian public initiative project

The article summarizes two-year work of the website Russian public initiative, which was established in accordance with the Presidential Decree of March 4, 2013. The authors analyze the procedure and mechanism of functioning of the Internet resource, statistics on its work, the content and history of successful initiatives adoption. Particular attention is paid to comparison of Russian public initiative and a similar website, which has been created in the USA (We The People). The authors suggest that the goal of these websites is similar but the main priorities differ. The American one the most conspicuous priority is to explain the position of the presidential administration on issues of public concern. Russian website proclaims, first of all, the purpose of public involvement in lawmaking actually performing one more task - the legitimization of lawmaking initiatives. The authors believe that it is necessary to give up formalism in responding to initiatives and use them as an opportunity for an open dialogue with the society. Among the factors that affect the implementation of the goals the authors point out that many people do not have Internet, do not trust the vote counting process and do not understand the legal consequences of voting. The practice shows that none of the successful initiatives has received the required support. In contrast, the government commission rejected initiatives that have received the required number of votes.