Civic Participation Platform: Implementation Practices in the Russian Greater Caspian Sea Region
Nowadays, daily life is unimaginable without information and communication technologies (ICTs). “New” reality dictates tectonic changes in communication processes that affect all spheres of life, including political ones. In recent years, there has been a trend towards more open and transparent governance. The purpose of this article is to assess the current status of civic participation platforms in the Russian regions of the Greater Caspian Sea on the basis of a comparative analysis of the institutional foundations and practices of their operation. The main empirical method of the research was the monitoring of civic participation platforms in Astrakhan region, the Republic of Dagestan and the Republic of Kalmykia, as well as qualitative content analysis of the texts posted on the above-mentioned portals. Civic participation platforms have a positive impact on the community. Despite the wide range of opportunities that new technologies offer to engage the party concerned and the citizens, the initiatives fail to achieve the expected results and to mobilize a sufficient number of active users. New forms of interaction between the authorities and civic society are just beginning to develop in our country. The development of electronic civic participation portals in the three Russian regions of the Greater Caspian Sea is taking place in different; their level of development can be estimated as average (in Astrakhan region), below average (in the Republic of Dagestan) and zero (in the Republic of Kalmykia). The main reasons for this state of affairs are digital divide between the regions and the governance practices of the federal and local governments in the regions.