Comparative Analysis of Political Practices of the Open Government in Russia and the USA

This study is dedicated to comparative analysis of political implementation of Open Government program in Russian and the United States on the example of the public e-petitions websites. As a theoretical framework of the study the theory of participatory democracy was examined. Particular attention was paid to the concept of "electronic government" as the origin of Open Government. It is concluded that the participation of citizens is one of the most important components of increasing the openness of state. Based on the theory of diffusion of innovations were identified several factors that have influence on the consolidation of the Russian Public Initiative as innovation among citizens. A comparative analysis of practices of implementation of the state e-petition websites in two countries allowed to develop recommendations for the further development of the Russian Public Initiative as a mechanism of citizen participation. The research was based on collecting information about e-petitions in Russia and in the United States at the Federal, regional and local levels through various sources, including public opinion polls, analysis of websites and interviews with experts in the field of analytics in the public sector.