Deliberation in public governance: a comparative legal analysis of practices in foreign states and Ukraine

The article examines deliberative governance in the public sector through a comparative legal analysis of practices in foreign countries and Ukraine. It reveals the conceptual foundations of deliberative governance as a tool for enhancing the democratic legitimacy of public authority by ensuring transparency, citizen participation, and the substantiation of public decisions. The experience of the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Canada, the European Union, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom regarding the institutionalization of deliberative procedures in public administration is analyzed. The main models of deliberation implementation are identified: mandatory public consultations, public debates, participation in rule-making, and Citizens’ Assemblies. Common features of foreign practices are outlined, including the recognition of deliberation as a condition for the legitimacy of public decisions and the need for clear procedural regulation. The state of normative consolidation of deliberative mechanisms in Ukraine is analyzed, based on the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine concerning popular sovereignty, human dignity, the rule of law, citizen participation, and the openness of government activities. The fragmentation of existing deliberative practices in Ukrainian public governance is identified, and the necessity of improving the normative regulation of participationprocedures, ensuring institutional guarantees of good-faith communication, and expanding opportunities for judicial control over the implementation of procedural fairness principles is emphasized. Attention is drawn to universal challenges in the institutionalization of deliberative governance, such as deliberative overload, pseudo-deliberation, non-inclusivity of communication, lack of procedural sincerity, and conflicts with the principle of efficiency. It is argued that overcoming these risks requires the development of clear procedural standards, the definition of areas where deliberation is mandatory, and the creation of conditions for real citizen participation in decision-making processes. It is emphasized that the implementation of deliberative governance should become one of the key directions for the development of democratic constitutionalism and the improvement of public administration in Ukraine.