3rd Call for Papers

Putting the Participatory into Participatory Budgeting

Convenor: Catherine Wilkinson (Durham University)

 

How to do it: Creating Bottom Up Political Participation, 9-10 April 2016 | Kings College London

 

For more information about the conference visit: https://how2doit2016.wordpress.com/

 

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, and a type of participatory democracy, in which ordinary people decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. PB has been described as a significant area of innovation in democracy and local development (Cabannes, 2004), and as an instrument of decentralisation that successfully avoids fragmentation (Novy and Leubolt, 2005). However, as Ganuza et al. (2014:2274) point out, the emergence of new participatory mechanisms, such as participatory budgeting, in towns and cities in recent years has given rise to a conflict between “the old protagonists of local participation” and the new citizens invited to participate. While some authors (e.g. Ganuza and Francés, 2012) argue that PB enables participants to make effective use of their opportunities for deliberation, others (e.g. (Lerner and Secondo, 2012:1) have critiqued PB as a “token effort”. As is perhaps clear, a new critical discourse is emerging surrounding this model of local grant spending. As Ganuza and Francés (2012) point out, one challenge for deliberative governance is to address the problem of inclusion and to what extent individuals may develop deliberative skills and capabilities. This session asks: how can we create progressive and effective political participation in PB?

Contributions are invited which engage with, but are by no means limited to, the following themes:

·         - Best practice for participatory budgeting/ lessons learned

·        - Tools, procedures, and methods of PB (traditional and novel)

·        -  Encouraging participation/what constitutes participation in PB

·         - Preconditions for PB, and PB rules and procedures

·        -  Opportunities and challenges for PB

·         - The use of technology or digital interventions in PB processes

The format for presentations is ten minutes. Alongside more traditional oral paper presentations, this session welcomes alternative presentational styles. For instance: performative contributions; audio/visual presentations; (auto)ethnographical pieces; and other artistic/imaginative formats.

Please email prospective contributions, or any queries, to the session convenor, Catherine Wilkinson ([log in to unmask])

The deadline for submissions is 1^st March 2015. Please include:

·         Presentation title

·         Abstract of maximum 200 words

·         Your name, affiliation and e-mail address

 

You will be notified of the outcome of your contribution via email on w/c 7^th March.

I look forward to hearing from you,