보건･의료분야 정책결정･입법과정에서의 시민단체의 역할과 참여 확대 방안

Abstract

In the health and medical field, civil groups actively promote the participation in various policy-making decisions and lawmaking processes. Such participation by civil groups is understood as one way to realize participatory democracy, which is being discussed as an alternative to supplement the realistic faults or limitations of representative democracy, which isolates the people, the sovereign of the nation, and whose policies do not fully reflect the differentiated interests of the public. This article discusses the changes in the role of civil groups in the health and medical field and analyzes the legal system for the paticipation of civil groups in the policy-making decisions and lawmaking processes in the health and medical field. Then this article suggests the ways to expand participation of civil groups in the policy-making decisions and lawmaking processes in the health and medical field. In order to realize participatory democracy in the health and medical field, civil groups will need to make efforts such as acquiring professional knowledge about the medical field, enhancing public interest in medical issues, and organizing the group. Furthermore, in the legal dimension, the government will need to expand opportunities for civil groups to have their opinion heard by making substantial use of public hearings in the lawmaking process, increase participation in government legislative process by enacting the legislation petition system, expand opportunities to directly participate in or recommend members to various committees under the current law, as well as provide other appropriate institutional devices or national support measures to guarantee civil participation.