Fiscalt Transparency as an Aspect of Good Governance: A Case Study of the City of Bjelovar

Ovaj diplomski rad odgovara na istraživačko pitanje: kako se razvijala proračunska transparentnost u Gradu Bjelovaru za vrijeme aktualnog mandata lokalne vlasti u periodu 2017.-2020.? Provedena je studija slučaja u kojoj su korištene dvije kvalitativne metode prikupljanja podataka – intervju i analiza dokumenata. Prikupljena građa kodirana je prema pravilima kvalitativne analize sadržaja. U zaključku rada iznosi se kako se razvoj proračunske politike u Bjelovaru može odrediti, iako uz neke manjkavosti, kao primjer ili aspekt dobrog upravljanja. Zajednička načela lokalne proračunske politike i koncepta dobrog upravljanja su – transparentnost i odgovornost. Četiri su glavna i relevantna elementa razvoja proračunske politike Bjelovara: transparentnost kao cilj, aplikacija Transparentno i projekt „Grad Bjelovar – najtransparentniji grad u Hrvatskoj“ kao osnovni instrumenti, gradonačelnik kao ključan akter zajedno sa svojim suradnicima i građani kao glavna ciljana skupina. Upravo je iscrpan pregled difuzne i nejasne literature o konceptu dobrog upravljanja koji je relativno nov u području javnih politika, i sistematičan prikaz svih autora koji ga definiraju na različite načine, važan doprinos ovog znanstvenog rada. Ovaj rad predstavlja politološki pogled na ekonomsku temu te ističe važnost proceduralne dimenzije transparentnosti – važno je kako se odlučivalo o procesu.This paper attempts to provide an answer to the following research question: how did the budgetary transparency develop in the city of Bjelovar during the term of office of the current local authorities in the period between 2017 and 2020? In order to do that, a case study was undertaken, for which the two qualitative data collection methods were used – the interview and the document analysis. The collected data has been coded in accordance with the rules of qualitative data analysis. In its conclusion, this paper states that the development of budgetary transparency in the city of Bjelovar can be labeled, despite some defects, as an example of an aspect of good governance. The common principles of the local budgetary policy and the concept of good governance are – transparency and liability. There are four main and relevant elements of the development of the budgetary policy of the City of Bjelovar: the transparency as the main goal, the app “Transparent” and the project “The City of Bjelovar – the most transparent city in Croatia” as the main instruments, the mayor as a leading figure, along with his associates, and the citizens as a target group. The main contribution of this paper consists of a detailed overview of what is usually confusing and unclear bibliography about the concept of good governance, which is a relatively new concept in the field of public policies, and in a systematic overview of the definitions provided by different authors. This research paper offers insight from the point of view of the political science on something that is usually seen as an economical subject and it underlines the importance of the procedural aspect of the transparency; in other words – the key is a knowledge of the decisions taken during this process