The local government: problems of cooperation with population

The modern democratic state can not exist without such an important element, as local government, which creates the necessary conditions for the approximation of power to the people, creates a flexible system of management and promotes the development of citizens' initiatives. For the most efficient functioning of local self-government and the issue of interaction of the population is of particular importance, since it is at the municipal level is the closest they interact. Keywords: local government, population, democracy, cooperation.

The local government is the existence of a democratic and stable state is a necessary condition local government. In his address, the President Dmitry Medvedev said that «the local selfgovernment is an essential element of any democratic state. »1.

Being the primary link of democracy, local government provides the necessary conditions for the approximation of power to the people, creates a flexible control system is well adapted to local conditions and characteristics, promotes initiative and independent citizens' [1, p. 8]. But in Russia, the emergence and the development of local self-government in the process of democratic transformation of society is complex and contradictory.

The nature of a democratic society is manifested in the fact that people are ready to deal with problematic situations, not shifting the responsibility onto others. The majority of people can participate actively in local communities, rather than watch from the sidelines for the games are far from the politicians. Citizens can not gain the ability to self-organization and self-government, having no experience of active association with the same citizens to solve problems that require collaborative efforts [2, p. 286-287].

The recognition of a local government in the Constitution is one of the foundations of the constitutional system. It is logically linked with the intention of Russia to be democratic and legal state (Part 1 of Art. 1 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation), focused on human rights and freedoms [3, p. 251].

However, how he writes in his article, V.B. Nadkin, speaking about the formation of the local self-government in Russia, the construction of such a system "from scratch, according to a certain plan, it is unlikely. In any case, do not feel some kind of inner need for Russians to build such an essential institution of the civil society as a system of a local self-government. "The reasons for this, he sees that, firstly, "the pulse of the state policy in the construction of the local government was not internal, and external". The second, is that "the state often tries to seize the initiative from the society and build a system of the local government for the usual bureaucratic scheme." "The greatest danger in all of these" transition costs "is that discredited the very idea of self-government"2.

V.A. Maksimov noticed one of the important reasons for difficulties, appears in the way of democratic reforms - an obvious lack of knowledge about what can and should be in our country's democratic institutions in general and self-governing civil society in particular, what are the basic principles and mechanisms [4, p. 193].

According to a study by V.V. Lapkin, to some extent contradictory appearance and instability of Russian democracy, its institutions, of course, related to the painful process of the transformation of values of Russians (in the concept of democracy is strongly influenced by the value of post-Soviet man, formed during the crisis and the radical transformation the former "Soviet" system of values), with painful attempts to develop a new, modern system of values. However, the relationship between the value orientations of citizens, including their views on democracy, on the one hand, and the stability of democracy, democratic institutions, on the other hand, is not a simple causal relationship. Reasons for dissatisfaction of the Russians with the process of democratization are different, they include, in particular, the impact of socio-economic crisis and the confidence of a large part of the respondents is that the political regime established in Russia after 1993, not a democracy. But one of the most important reasons, according to the author, consists in the alienation of the vast majority of Russian population from the existing political institutions that were created, according to the ordinary man in the street, from the top, the elite and the elite. There is however a kind of vicious circle: the alienation of political institutions, provoking reluctance of ordinary citizens to participate in their activities [5, p. 434].

For example, according to the sociological study of the Institute of Humanitarian Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), "The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): the problems of the regional security in a globalizing world (socio-political aspect)", held in 2005-2007 (total in the survey was involved 1518 respondents in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)), we can say that the public is not interested in participating in the activities of a local government (4.1%), political parties (4.0%), and so on, not seeing her influence on developments in the country. See Table. 1 and 2. Picture 1. URL: ru / upload / image / (03/31/2012)

Table1

Answers to the question "Do you participate in, any of these organizations?" (the sum of answers exceeds 100 % because of the method of survey, you could select several answers. Here and after, the percentage of respondents)

1	The unions	31,7
2	Local authorities	4,1
3	Political party	4,0
4	Assosiations	7,4
5	Ecological organisation, social movements	1,7
6	Sport club, sections	14,4
7	Dance,theatrical studio	3,0
8	The club, the circle of the insterests	4,7
9	Religious organisation	1,6
10	National community, union, assosiation	1,2
11	No, I don’t take a part in any of them	43,4

The formation of the local government is essentially a continuous process, not to be addressed "once and for all." And the more administrative effort is made for the early realization of a total approach to this problem, the more manifest the contradictions and questions arise that remain unanswered. In other words, the institutions of the local government must naturally occur where there is a fundamental socio-economic condition for its emergence and development. The task of government is reduced to information, legislative and economically supports this process [6, p. 152].

Table 2 Answers to the question "How can an ordinary Russian citizen can influence on the development of the country?" (The sum of answers exceeds 100 % because of the method of survey could select mul- tiple options)

1	The participation in the elections to the public authorities at the different levels	37,4
2	The participation in the local government	15,5
3	Conscientious performance of their civil and professional responsibilities	31,8
4	Strict realization of the laws	14,1
5	The participation in the different political and state organisations (parties and movements)	9,0
6	The participation in the activities of the trade unions	10,2
7	The participation in the protests (rallies, demonstrations, strikes, hunger strikes)	10,3
8	Contacts with media (on TV and in printing)	11,6
9	Dealing with the initiatives to the authorities at the different levels	6,2
10	It can not influense on the events in the country	20,9

Probably, for the sustained development of the local government in Russia should develop a range of legal, organizational, psychological and pedagogical character. In this process a key role should play the public policy that promotes patriotism and the local government in the country [4, p. 192].

The local government is still not efficient enough and not always in demand by the society as an independent form of democracy. In this sense, the problem of interaction between people and local authorities is becoming more urgent. Loss of community traditions of self-organization to address a joint of comfortable living on the territory, the lack of adequate financial and economic foundations of local self-government, legal and organizational and personnel problems create difficult conditions for improving the practice of local government. Local governments are often distanced from the people and their urgent problems, overly dependent on the authorities of RF subjects, are not able to produce consistent decisions, allow for non-compliance with the legislation on local government corruption. Awareness of personal responsibility and public duty in the arrangement of the city falls short of its expectations of local authorities.

The self-management involves a fairly high degree of maturity of democracy itself, is the capable of self-organization and self-regulation, when the norms of democracy are in the habit of both managed and control [8, p. 246].

Democracy wins there and then, when there is a need for it (and such a need exists in today's Russia) is the mass acceptance and popular support [9, p. 133].

As a result, before the democratic countries, among the most, the urgent task is to enhance the ability of citizens to comprehend the events of political life in order to be able to take part in them [10, p. 179].

The problem of attracting people to participate in local government is one of the key to the entire world community. Despite the fact that the solution of everyday problems of life rests with the municipal local government, the population takes active part in identifying the key areas of municipal policy [4, p. 180].

These national Russian polls show that three thousand of the 86% of respondents believe that their influence on what is happening in the city or area, little or not, 8% believe, that they can affect either fully or to a large extent, 5 % undecided [4, p. 191].

As a resultof the social studies, the data are reflected in the report on the status of the civil society, prepared by the Public Chamber in 2007, the obstacles to the manifestation of the civil engagement are indifferent to public affairs, the habit of hoping for a ready, individualism ("every man for himself"), lack of time , over-employment, lack of knowledge, incompetence, lack of confidence in the ability to influence decisions.

According to the experts, "the main difficulty of the task of the local government lies not in the preventing it from the government agencies, and in opposition to this idea on the part of the population" [4, p. 192]. According to VZOM, most of the citizens do not perceive the local government as "their" government. Perceptions of the local government as a form of exercise by the people of his power, the possibility of self and responsibility to solve local issues are not strengthened, but rather attenuated. In 2005 it was described as a local government, 46%, in 2008 already 38%. That is minus 8%. In contrast, the more stable is the notion that local government - is not nothing but a representation of the state on the ground, intended for presentation at the disposal of the government. In 2005 both saw 41% of respondents in the nationwide sample in 2008 are 44%. That is the basic idea that local government - it's our power that we choose what we do execute it, this representation is still more than half of Russians simply do not [11, p. 7-8].

Every interaction is a mutual influence. And the direct and converse equally. Management - is also the interaction. The distinction between subject and object in only one: the subject makes a decision. Without this, it is not the subject. But somehow in effect on the object, without suffering the influence of this response, it is impossible [12, p. 944].

The principle of the feedback is central to any management system. Relying only on a direct connection, it is impossible to build an effective system. And here the key role played by information transparency, accessibility. In official documents the development of local government in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) matters relating to the development of "information security", "Information Security", "information exchange", "advocacy" is given special attention. However, the "lack of diversity of information and even a hunger for information - the information field of the characteristic features of state and municipal employees of the republic. This situation should be considered on the one hand, as a problem, because without accurate information can not adequately respond to the challenges and solve the problems of state and municipal management "[13, p. 227-228], on the other – is an essential component of the process of democratic reforms in Russia are the media, which are one of the most important channels through which the forward and backward linkages between the society and the government. However, the media caused mistrust among the population (44.3%). The index "confidence zone" composed of the combined responses "more likely, do not trust" and "no trust" (according to the poll, "Problems of regional security in the context of globalization", organized by Centre for the Study of Social and Political Sciences of IGR process of Sakha (Yakutia). Number of respondents the city of Yakutsk - 400 people.). In addition, "The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), possessing a good level of technology, lags in the cognitive and cultural component of the process of integration into the information society. Thus, the information poor (leveled) the company is subject to the manipulation "[14, p. 246-247], which in turn leads to distrust government in general.

Thus, according to the criteria of the democratic process R. Dahl, "to understand, based on awareness," creates a condition in which the "within reason each member should receive equal and real opportunity to review the policy options and their probable consequences" [10 , p. 42].

In conclusion, it is important to say, that at the municipal level is the closest cooperation between the authorities and population, and how effectively local authorities are coping with their responsibilities, and the population to actively participate in decisions affecting his life, as well as strengthened communication of citizens with local government and ensured openness and transparency of all local government structures, the efficiency depends not only municipal, but also the government as a whole.