EN
After common questioning of a new public management, a leading conception of modernisation of public administration in the world sci-entific discussion is a model of co-management (participation management). Its essence is enabling citizens and groups representing them to participate directly in creation and realisation of public policies. It also puts pressure on a change a role of administration from a regulator of the social life in a way of orders and prohibitions into a direction of a coordinator of activity of outside-government subjects, such as social organisations, formalised and non-formalised communities, business or individual citizens. The article presents basic theoretical assumptions of the conception of co-management, benefits and limitations of this model of public management and an effort of transplanting it to the practice of the Polish public administration.