Public Participation as an Element of Social Security

From the point of view of social policy, the need of security is considered as the indispensable part of functioning and development of every society. Citizens’ participation avers that the inhabitants will have the possibility of taking part in making decisions about their own surrounding, which results in development of the sense of security. The actions taken in the social space initiate the existence of the selfaware civil society. This article’s main aim is to discuss the possibilities of assuring the social security through civil commitment and their active participation in the public life. The formal instruments that occur in the system of Polish law (i.e. a participation in the open debate, a participation in the elections, a legislative initiative) have been analyzed. Those instruments enable to the residents the participation and codecision making and, what follows, they contribute towards forming broadly defined security.