Regional Overview: NIS Countries
SVITLANA KRAVCHENKO
INTRODUCTION
After the collapse of the USSR, many democratic principles were adopted in the Newly Independent States (NIS), including access to information and public participation in environmental decisionmaking. New tendencies of participatory democracy were born, new sprouts of democracy were raised and have grown in practice in the form of referenda, public hearings or first court cases and litigation on environmental issues connected with the protection of citizens' rights. Nevertheless, the level of public environmental consciousness and awareness is still rather low because of the focus on economic issues in the countries in transition, lack of tradition of public participation in decisionmaking, and distrust of governmental bodies and especially of the independent court system. These problems make the realization and implementation of "paper democracy" more important yet more difficult.
REC * PUBLICATIONS * DOORS TO DEMOCRACY - NIS * REGIONAL OVERVIEW
