Conference Paper

This chapter evaluates the digital platform for the engagement of citizens in the process of open policy making in the Republic of Macedonia, in comparison with digital platforms in Finland and the United Kingdom, based on the EU initiative for citizens’ engagement. The methodological approach in this research relies on an analysis of government policies on the open policymaking process, as well as the digital platforms and digital tools used for this purpose. The open policymaking process was analyzed in all three counties from the following aspects: the legal basis, reforms in the public sector, and tools that enable the engagement of citizens and the reflections of civil society. For this purpose, we have analyzed the findings from the civil society organizations that monitor government performance in open policy‐making. It should be emphasized that in this study the issue of open policy‐making was analyzed from the perspective of the highest political level, that is a national level. As the findings of the study suggest, all of the three countries involved have a strong commitment to an open policy‐making process and have established this process by certain legal instruments. The research revealed that in the UK and Macedonia the process of developing capacities to carry out consultations was attributed to reforms in the public sector. Unlike these two examples, in the case of Finland no major public sector reforms were implemented, consequently the leadership of open policymaking has remained in the hands of civil society.