Local administrators' perception of local democracy: A study on Malatya municipal councilors

Local governments are the most effective service units in terms of proximity to the public. It also enables the central government to better focus on their core business. As the application area of local democracy, there should be a solidarity between the administration and the people of the region in local governments. This cooperation between the rulers and the ruled has a very important place in terms of improving and democratizing the administration. In this research, it is aimed to state the understanding of local administrators on local democracy and their views in this context. The sample of the research consists of 50 members of the Metropolitan Municipality Council in the province of Malatya and the survey method, one of the qualitative research methods, was determined as the data collection method. The aim of the study is to evaluate the management approach in metropolitan municipalities in terms of local democracy, and in this context, to offer suggestions for the metropolitan municipality administrations to be transparent, accountable, in which the people are actively involved in the processes and thus democratic participation is realized, administratively and financially autonomous, and in a fair understanding. When the response percentages given as a result of the survey applied to the municipal council members are examined, it is seen that the concept of local democracy is understood differently in practice. As a classical governance perception, citizen participation is supported as long as they are not included in the decision-making point. However, according to the understanding of local democracy, citizens should be included in the decision-making processes. Attending the meeting will not mean anything on its own unless you express your opinion at the meeting and be effective in the decisions. At this point, it has been understood that there are deficiencies in the transition from the classical governance perception to the understanding of local democracy and this needs to be improved and perceived better. Keywords: Democracy, Local Democracy, Participation.