Active Citizenship and Social Work

Rad se bavi razvojem socijalnog rada u zajednici i predstavlja njegovu povezanost s građanskim aktivizmom. Na razvoj civilnog društva u Hrvatskoj uvelike je utjecala humanitarna i izbjeglička kriza te Domovinski rat. Ulaskom u Europsku Uniju dolazi do dodatnog poticaja u razvoju trećeg sektora. U radu je predstavljen novi oblik građanskog aktivizma- Digital Citizenship. Navedeni oblik aktivizma rezultat je globalizacije i informatičke revolucije. Jednostavnije iskazivanja stavova i mišljenja u online prostoru društva predstavlja opasnost za razvoj netolerancije i nedostatak kritičkog pogleda na pruženu informaciju. Kako se radi o obliku građanskog aktivizma koji je tek u povojima, potrebno je provesti dodatna istraživanja u navedenom području. Za kraj, rad navodi jedan od oblika sudjelovanja građana u oblikovanju politika putem Europske građanske inicijative te koje su njene prednosti i nedostaci.The paper focuses on the development of community social work and its connections to civic engagement. The humanitarian and refugee crisis, as well as the Homeland War, have majorly influenced the development of civil society in Croatia. Croatia’s accession to the European Union has been an additional impetus to the development of the third sector. A new type of civic engagement is also presented in this paper – Digital Citizenship. This type of civic engagement is the result of globalisation and information revolution. Expressing views and opinions on the Internet has become simpler; however, it poses a danger to the development of intolerance and may lead to the lack of critical stance regarding the provided information. Given that this type of civic engagement is still in its early stages, additional research should be done in the field. Lastly, the paper focuses on a form of citizen participation in policy-making through The European Citizens' Initiative, as well as its advantages and disadvantages