Citizen participation : local council perspective

Abstract

Over the years local councils have developed also as a means of democracy for citizens not just during the general elections but also in activities organised by the local councils. Both the recent Local Government Reform 2009 and the Malta Policy for Local Governance 2009 have put great emphasis upon this issue however there are still certain lacunae within this field. This extended essay was intended to evaluate citizen participation from the local councils' point of view whereby the author's point of departure was based on the hypothesis that there is a lack of involvement from the residents' part. The researcher analysed what has been gained up to date within the local councils and went on to check what is currently actually being done and to verify whether people truly involve themselves in all the areas that require their contribution. This study was first given a background overview of the progress made in Local Government and was then scrutinised by a qualitative and quantitative research design in the form of questionnaires which results are presented in this long essay. Such results enabled the researcher to reach the objectives of this essay and to attain answers to the initial hypothesis made.