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Authors: Boris Marić, Marko Sošić, Vladimir Vučković
Publishing year: 2014.
The role of municipal assembly is vital in fight against corruption, although it is still not nearly as important as it should be. Decentralization is a long-term process, which should be under constant control of the public, with the ultimate goal to establish a sustainable system for fight against corruption. That type of system should essentially replace the existing populist-tribune approach to this fight, which fails to produce tangible results.
The question is: why do citizens think they cannot sufficiently influence their elected representatives? It is paradoxical that citizens feel powerless in relation to their representatives, even though the Law on Local Self-Government has introduced an obligation of organizing public debates at the local level. Additionally, an entire set of opportunities for participation of citizens in decision-making has been prescribed. However, in practice, the situation has not changed significantly, nor did the perception about the possibility to exert necessary influence. The reason for this should be sought in citizens themselves first and after in democratic institutions and representatives sitting in these institutions. Namely, this kind of situation is a fertile ground for emergence of various forms of corruption at the local level.
The publication is a part of the project “Corruption at the local level- zero tolerance!”, implemented by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) in cooperation with the Institute Alternative (IA), NGO Bonum and NGO Nada, financed by the Delegation of the EU to Montenegro and co-financed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy