Citizen participation in Timisoara : case study of neighbourhood consultative councils

The broad goal of this paper is to asses the extent to which the citizen participation initiatives and projects are developed in Romania and to provide an insightful analysis of one of the most developed forms of citizen participation to the decision making process, the Neighborhood Consultative Councils formed by the municipality of Timisoara. Several major perspectives have been considered in order to achieve this objective. The literature review on the subject matter of democracy and citizen participation provides a good understanding of the concept of public participation in general and of the "ingredients" that form it. Further on, the study of the political, legal and social context of Romania is meant to design the framework in which the citizen participation initiatives are developed. At the same time, a proper understanding of this general context proves helpful when it comes to a more in depth analysis of any of the policies developed as far as citizen participation is concerned. This leads to the more specific objectives of this paper, which are giving insight into the relation between the Neighborhood Consultative Councils and the municipality of Timisoara, providing a strengths and weaknesses analysis and identifying the possible elements that can lead to a more efficient functioning of these councils.