The functioning of city councils in local governments: The case of Kâğıthane Municipality

Local governments in Turkey constitute an important dimension of the democracy process as they respond to the wishes of the people more quickly and enable effective decisions to be taken. In particular, city councils, which are based on the "Local Agenda 21" practices and whose number has increased recently, undertake important functions in increasing public participation. The city councils, which were formed with the aim of strengthening local governments, carry out the activities of developing a culture of accountability, participation and democracy in the city administration. The main purpose of this study is to examine the local participation methods in our country. In this context, in this study, the development phase of the city councils from the past to the present and the implementation of the Kâğıthane City Council as a city council experience in particular has been examined. This research, in which the qualitative research method is used, consists of 3 parts. In the first part of the study, the concept of local government is explained by considering the historical development of local governments and local government units in our country. In the second part, firstly the concept of participation is discussed. Then, participation in local governments is mentioned and participation methods in local governments are tried to be explained one by one. In addition to this, the development of the city councils, whose importance is increasing today, and its contribution to participation are discussed. In the third part, which constitutes the last part of the study, the example of Kâğıthane City Council, one of the city councils, which is one of the practices implemented by the municipalities in recent years for the participation of the people in the administration, has been examined.