The DOI matches its Crossref record; 10 of the 10 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Revisiting the democratic promise of participatory budgeting in light of competing political, good governance and technocratic logics
Open accessAbstract
Participatory budgeting (PB) has been a major innovation in participatory governance worldwide, with more than 3,000 experiences listed across 40 countries. PB has also diversified over its 30 years, with many contemporary experiments (referred to as PBs) only tangentially related to the original project to “radically democratize democracy”. We propose a taxonomy to distinguish the logics currently underpinning PB in practice: political (for radical democratic change), good governance (to improve links between the public and citizens’ spheres), and technocratic (to optimize the use and transparency of public resources for citizens’ benefit). Illustrating these competing rationales through contemporary experiences, we reflect on the contributions of the good governance and technocratic frameworks to managerial and state modernization. Undoubtedly, these help explain PB’s growing attraction for proponents of the good governance agenda. However, rekindling PB’s promise for democratic deepening, we argue, requires refocusing on its deliberative quality. We draw attention to civic education and empowerment of participants as key components of PB practices intent on opening pathways towards alternative political systems – indeed, of materializing Henri Lefebvre’s “right to the city”.
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“When done well, PB practices can inform government officials of citizen preferences, thus reducing the information asymmetry that exists on behalf of local governments (Cabannes and Lipietz 2018;Ebdon and Franklin 2006).”
From Participatory Budgeting for Social Equity: A Comparative Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Cabannes and Lipietz 2018
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Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 17
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Metadata
- Authors
- Cabannes, Y., & Lipietz, B.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Venue
- Environment and Urbanization
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-12-29
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 67-84
- ISSN
- 0956-2478 (ISSN-L)
- 1746-0301
- OpenAlex
- W2790038601
- Cited by
- 173
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 45.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Environment and Urbanization (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Politics and Society in Latin America
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
- Keywords
- participatory budgeting, democratic deepening, good governance, technocracy, political logic, deliberation, citizenship education, citizen empowerment, right to the city, state modernization, participatory governance
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