Participatory Budgeting

Participatory budgeting is a process that provides for citizen input into the allocation of resources by local governments. Originally promoted as a democratizing reform by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party or PT) in Brazil, participatory budgeting has been adopted around the world.

Drawing on its tradition of neighbourhood assemblies, Porto Alegre was the first city in Brazil to adopt the arrangement in 1989–1990. Its phased approach to engaging citizens in decision-making combines elements of deliberative and representative democracy. All citizens are eligible to attend district-level assemblies to discuss local needs and budget priorities. In turn, the assemblies elect representatives who serve on a citywide council that formulates budgetary targets and monitors the budgetary process and implementation.

Widely considered to be a successful experiment in promoting citizen participation in Porto Alegre, the practice has spread rapidly throughout Brazil. By 2004, 200 cities in Brazil were using the arrangement, as were hundreds of cities throughout Latin America. Spain, Italy, Canada, Indonesia, South Africa, and India are among the countries that have also adopted variations of participatory budgeting. International organizations from the World Bank to the United Nations have endorsed participatory budgeting as a "best practice" and promote it in their programming. Participatory budgeting is among the most innovative practices in modern democratic government to emerge from contemporary Latin America.

See alsoBrazil, Political Parties: Workers Party (PT) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baiocchi, Gianpaolo. Militants and Citizens: The Politics of Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005.

Nylen, William. Participatory Democracy versus Elitist Democracy: Lessons from Brazil. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

                              Catherine Conaghan