Participatory Budgeting

Making Democracy Spectacular

by Nick Mahony

Mediating the Publics of Public Participation Experiments

by Nick Mahony

Co-Governance in Belo Horizonte

by Rafael Cardoso Sampaio

Book chapter in English. Co-authored with Brian Wampler. Part of the book: Vitalizing Democracy Through Participation.

Case study of Belo Horizonte's Participatory Budgeting (digital and face to face program) and its policy councils. It... more Case study of Belo Horizonte's Participatory Budgeting (digital and face to face program) and its policy councils. It covers all the data until 2010.

Participação e Deliberação na Internet: Um estudo de caso do Orçamento Participativo Digital de Belo Horizonte

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Co-authored with Rafael Sampaio and Rousiley Maia.

Text in Portuguese. Abstract in Portuguese: Esse artigo busca avaliar trocas discursivas realizadas no fórum online do... more Text in Portuguese. Abstract in Portuguese: Esse artigo busca avaliar trocas discursivas realizadas no fórum online do orçamento participativo digital (OPD) de Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Para tanto, é formulado um modelo de análise das discussões entre os cidadãos participantes do programa baseado nas teorias de democracia deliberativa. São analisadas as mensagens dos usuários (n=375) postadas na ferramenta de comentários do site do OPD. Os resultados apontam que os aspectos discursivos concernentes à reciprocidade e à reflexividade se mostraram relativamente escassos; entretanto, o respeito pelos outros interlocutores, bem como a construção da justificativa dos pontos de vista expressos no fórum, alcançaram índices elevados, mesmo não havendo empowerment da ferramenta ou incentivo por parte da Prefeitura. Conclui-se que a internet pode, efetivamente, oferecer ambientes voltados para o estabelecimento de trocas discursivas qualificadas e que, mesmo nos casos onde há baixos índices de deliberatividade, há progressos importantes do ponto de vista do aprendizado a que são expostos os usuários.

El dios Jano de los Presupuestos Participativos en España.

by Ernesto Ganuza

Control político y participación en democracia: los presupuestos participativos

by Ernesto Ganuza

Existe una percepción extendida entre la mayoría de los ciudadanos de que sus representantes, una vez elegidos,... more Existe una percepción extendida entre la mayoría de los ciudadanos de que sus representantes, una vez elegidos, explican muy pocas veces sus decisiones políticas. Los ciudadanos se quejan de que los políticos no rinden cuentas de sus acciones. Y si los políticos no rinden cuentas de sus acciones, difícilmente los ciudadanos podrán responsabilizarlos de una gestión que la mayoría desconoce.

The deliberative turn in participation: the problem of inclusion and deliberative opportunities in participatory budgeting

by Ernesto Ganuza

Participation has undergone a communicative shift, which has favoured the organization of new participatory processes... more Participation has undergone a communicative shift, which has favoured the organization of new participatory processes based on classic principles of deliberation theory. These experiments go beyond traditional protest: they include a communicative element with the aim of defining a public politics, which places them alongside models of deliberative governance. The present work sets out the characteristics of these new instruments
(participatory budgeting, PB) in order to find out which problems deliberative governance initiatives are faced with. The conclusions tell us that the inequalities in participation are
significant. Nevertheless, PB enables most participants to make effective use of their opportunities for deliberation. From this standpoint, the challenge for deliberative governance does not seem to be the deliberative capabilities of individuals, but rather
the design of participatory procedures and the participation of individuals. We may question whether the administration can guarantee impartial political spaces that are as inclusive as possible.

Participação Política e Desenho Institucional: Uma Proposta Para a Concepção De Mecanismos Participativos / Political participation and institutional design: A proposal for the conception of participatory mechanisms

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: Political participation and institutional design: A proposal for the conception of participatory... more Title in English: Political participation and institutional design: A proposal for the conception of participatory mechanisms. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: This paper focuses on the study and development of those institutional innovations conceived to promote participatory practices in contemporary democracies. In a first moment, one considers some of the main arguments addressing the scope, limits and the effects of the institutional design on the political game. Then, the article explores, through a brief history regarded the configuration modes of modern democracies, the relationship between institutional design and political participation. This fact calls the attention to the need of a change in the current institutional design of democracies. Finally, one proposes the idea that three features must be taken into account in any attempt to offer effective mechanisms of participation in the decision-making process: (a) to improve citizens’ repertoire of skills and political information; (b) to pay attention to motivational factors that encourage the involvement in politics; (c) to be careful about the setting and the availability of input channels whose goal is to lead the contributions of civil sphere.

Participation and Deliberation on the Internet: A case study on Digital Participatory Budgeting in Belo Horizonte

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Co-authored with Rafael Sampaio e Rousiley Maia.

This paper aims to examine how political conversations take place on the digital discursive tools offered as part of... more This paper aims to examine how political conversations take place on the digital discursive tools offered as part of the Digital Participatory Budget (OPD) in Belo Horizonte (Brazil). The authors propose an analytical model based on deliberative theories in order to investigate the discussions over this participatory program. The main sample consists of the messages posted by the users (n=375) on the commentaries section. The results show that reciprocity and reflexivity among interlocutors are rare; however, the respect among the participants and the justification levels in several arguments were high during the discussion. The authors conclude that, even in a situation in which there is no empowerment of the digital tools, the internet can effectively provide environments to enhance a qualified discursive exchange. In spite of low levels of deliberativeness, the case study shows that there are important gains concerning social learning among the participants.

Diferentes modos de participação: alguns impactos da introdução da internet no Orçamento Participativo de Belo Horizonte

by Rafael Cardoso Sampaio

Brazilian Journal: Comunicação & Política (Only portuguese)

Comparing Belo Horizonte's Participatory Budgeting to e-PB. Comparing Belo Horizonte's Participatory Budgeting to e-PB.

¿Participar para transformar? La experiencia de los presupuestos participativos en la provincia de Barcelona

by ismael blanco

BLANCO, I.; BALLESTER, M.
Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, núm 5, enero-julio 2011

What can we expect from citizen participation processes in local policymaking? Is it reasonable to expect significant... more What can we expect from citizen participation processes in local policymaking? Is it reasonable to expect significant political transformations? In this article, we identify the conditions that theoretically determine the transformation capacity of citizen participation. Such theoretical discussion gives place to a framework for the assessment of participative practices, which we use to analyse 11 cases of participatory budgeting in the province of Barcelona. The analysis puts in evidence the limits of this kind of participative practices, which are linked to three main factors: their peripheral institutional position; the scarce decision margin that is given to the citizens; and the lack of social mobilization. However, the cases analysed reach a good performance in two important aspects: the impact of citizens’ proposals on public decision-taking and the transformation of the attitudes of local authorities, the public employees and the citizens themselves towards public participation. The assessment framework proposed helps us to identify critical aspects for the improvement and the strengthening of the transformation capacity of participative processes.

Haushalt, Haushaltspolitik und Demokratie: Bedingungen und Strategien einer partizipativen Haushaltspolitik; ein Lese-und Arbeitsbuch

by Lutz Brangsch

gemeinsam mit Dr. Petra Brangsch