Participatory budgeting is a tool that can be used to improve social accountability within public institutions through increasing the participation of citizens in decision-making processes about the distribution of public funds. The global experiences from the use of participatory budgeting indicate that the impact of the initiatives has ranged from very weak to highly successful, and that the successfulness depends on certain factors in the environment where it is implemented – even though there is no agreement on what these factors are. Albania is one of the countries where a range of civil society organizations are implementing participatory budgeting initiatives and is at the same time a country that faces one of the highest corruption levels in Europe. Despite the fact that these initiatives could bring very important impacts, very little academic research is done on this topic. The purpose of this thesis was therefore to investigate to what extent the participatory budgeting initiatives in Albania have improved social accountability in the Albanian societies, as well as what factors that have affected this impact and how. The investigation was carried out as a case study in Albania where nine different participatory budgeting initiatives were examined through conducting semi-structured interviews with the organizations implementing these projects, as well as one expert organization that has helped the other organizations to improve their knowledge on the tool and one public official from a municipality involved in one of the initiatives. The research of this thesis found that the Albanian participatory budgeting initiatives have succeeded to do minor improvements on social accountability through strengthening the voice of the citizens and the enforcement mechanism, while formal answerability still is low and negatively affects the sustainability of these improvements. It was further found that seventeen factors from five different categories have affected the ability of the initiatives to improve social accountability – some more than others. These categories were: formal and informal political systems, supportive legal and policy frameworks, local capacity and knowledge, free media institutions, and availability of information. The contributions of the thesis included also the finding of a factor that was not mentioned by the theory (trust by local governments in civil society organizations), as well as a structure on how these influencing factors interact with each other.

This thesis examines the formal introduction of Localism in the South West county of Cornwall, UK. Using data taken from three distinct areas of the county, this work critically analyses strategies of Localism, where it takes place, who is involved and how it is performed. This research is contexualised within an era of localism, advocating the devolution of political governance with the aim to produce sustainable democratic communities. Changes to local government in 2009 saw Cornwall Council restructure from a two-tiered to a unitary local authority. The previous six district councils and one county council were dissolved and instead, Cornwall was divided into nineteen Community Network Areas with one centralised council. These Areas were provided with dedicated Localism officers, administrative and public service facilities and given the remit to employ the ethos of Localism to everyday interaction between the local authority and citizenry. This introduction of a formal style of conducting Localism followed the then Labour Party’s design for a Third Way; for revolutionising governance to make it increasingly civic-focused and for devolving local decision-making in the hands of communities. The findings of the thesis conclude that Localism has been a largely top-down endeavour by government and as such, widespread bottom-up governance has not been able to emerge through governmental structures. Local resistance to these structures, and the rigid frameworks and targets introduced by Localism, have meant that parts of Localism appear and disappear at certain moments. The ideological vision for Localism has therefore been interrupted, however it is through localism with a small ‘l’, historically part of the day-to-day operations of those at the heart of civic engagement, such as town and parish councils, which has emerged as pivotal in on-going local governing opportunities.

<p><p>Political disenchantment and detachment is proven to be growing in well established democracies. This development brings along concerning behavior regarding general political participation. Fewer citizens participate in elections, parties are losing members, and the trust in politicians is steadily decreasing. IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) has been registering voter turnout worldwide for the last 60 years and their publications show a decline in voter participation since the 1980s.</p><p>During the same period of time another development has caught attention, namely the fast progress of the medium Internet. The new generation of Internet functions is called Web 2.0 and allows users not only to create content, but also to interact with each other.</p><p>This dissertation aims to explore the possibilities emerging when integrating Web 2.0 in political processes. To study this, a case study approach is used and participatory budgeting is the chosen case. Effects on political disenchantment are analyzed from the perspective of Robert Dahl’s democratic criteria.</p><p>The analysis underlines the importance of making political processes more accessible to the citizens, e.g. by supplying online functions for political contribution. Several signs indicate an expanded integration of Web 2.0 functions, which might lead to a turning point for political disenchantment. However, the result also shows that other factors, such as composition of participants, and conditions of usage should to be taken in consideration while increasing the online dependency.</p></p>

Este artículo explora las cambiantes formas de autoridad y fuerza atribuidas a la ley en el neoliberalismo y sus consecuencias para lo que se considera como política. En primer lugar se examina la manera en la que históricamente se invoca la ley a través del recuento de dos momentos en la historia de una importante cooperativa agraria en Cusco; en segundo lugar se analiza mas detalladamente los flexibles y disputados entendimientos de norma y riesgo que circulan a nivel distrital en el proceso de elaboración del presupuesto participativo. En estos dos ejemplos —tomados de dos diferentes periodos en la articulación de la vida política y la forma estatal en el Perú— la ley se manifiesta no como una fuerza transcendental o como expresión de la voluntad estatal, sino mas bien como un espacio en el cual actores locales experimentan con diversos entendimientos de los conceptos de desarrollo y del bien común. En este sentido, argumento que «la ley» da forma a la vida política local no solamente a través de su capacidad de imponer sanciones represivas y moldear subjetividades políticas, sino tam­bién a través de las aberturas que la ley ofrece para el desarrollo de entendimientos alternativos de norma y soberanía / Taking risks: Norm, law and participation in the neoliberal state This paper explores the shifting forms of authority and force assigned to law in neoliberalism, and its consequences for what «counts» as political life. I look first at how law is invoked historically in a recounting of two moments in the history of an important agrarian cooperative in Cusco; and then in more detail at the flexible and contested understandings of norm and risk that circulate in a district level participatory budgeting process. In these two examples—taken from periods bridging two distinct moments in the articulation of political life and state form in Peru—law emerges not as a transcendent force or expression of the State’s will, but rather as a space in which local actors experiment with diverse understandings of development and the common good. In this sense, then, I argue that «law» shapes local political life not merely through its ability to impose repressive sanctions and to mold political subjectivities, but also through the openings which law offers for advancing alternative understandings of both sovereignty and norm.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T23:39:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_11835_Dissertação - André Luiz Souto Tavares.pdf: 1375955 bytes, checksum: af1f072ad3dca59dab9b3b6c1108be6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / A figura dos Orçamentos Participativos (OP), enquanto instrumento de deliberação e participação pública, é saudado não apenas por ser capaz de viabilizar alguns dos pressupostos mais centrais das perspectivas normativas das democracias, mas também como objeto de inclusão política e promoção de justiça social. A partir das principais variáveis apontadas na literatura como fatores determinantes no êxito dos OPs (desenho institucional, associativismo e compromisso governamental), o objetivo da presente pesquisa é compreender, a partir da relação entre as referidas variáveis, a experiência de elaboração do Orçamento Participativo no Município de Vila Velha (OPVV) no biênio 2017-2018. Para tanto, foram utilizadas informações a partir de trabalhos acadêmicos, documentos oficiais, entrevistas com os atores do OP e, como complemento destas fontes, o emprego do método da observação participante nas assembleias e reuniões do OPVV. Em que pese a ausência de clareza na definição dos critérios de filtragem das ações viáveis entre as etapas do OPVV, a análise da variável compromisso governamental mostrou que a administração empenhara-se em todas as fases do processo de elaboração do OPVV, de modo a haver um significativo esforço na realização das assembleias microrregionais nos bairros, bem com a tentativa de incluir a população não presente nas reuniões no processo de participação com a implementação do Orçamento Participativo on-line. Já com relação ao associativismo local, este mostrou-se, no contexto do OPVV, com um baixo nível de organização comunitária, apesar da histórica e relevante tradição associativa no município, principalmente nas décadas de 1970 e 1980, com os movimentos populares que reivindicavam melhorias nas condições de vida da população. Diante de um contexto em que o vetor governamental suplanta as forças oriundas da sociedade civil, há um processo de construção do desenho institucional que nem sempre é permeável por relações democráticas que favoreçam a igualdade e a equidade em todas as etapas do processo de elaboração do OPVV. / The figure of Participatory Budgets (PB) as an instrument of public deliberation is hailed not only for being able to make feasible some of the most central assumptions of the normative perspectives of democracies, but also as an object of political inclusion and. promotion of social justice. Based on the main variables mentioned in the academic as determinants of the success of PBs (institutional design, associativismo and government commitment), the objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between these variables to understand the experience of elaborating the participatory budget in the municipality of Vila Velha for the biennium 2017-2018. In order to do so, it used information from academic papers, official documents, interviews with OP actors and, as a complement to these sources, the use of participatory observation method at OPVV assemblies and meetings. Despite the lack of clarity in the definition of criteria for filtering viable actions between the OPVV phases, the analysis of the variable government commitment showed a commitment of the administration with all phases of the process of preparing the OPVV, so that there was a significant effort in the realization of the micro-regional assemblies in the neighborhoods, as well as the attempt to include the population not present in the meetings in the process of participation with the implementation of the Participatory Budget online. With regard to local associativism, it was a low level of community organization at the context of OPVV, despite the historical and relevant associative tradition in the municipality, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, with popular movements that demanded improvements conditions for population in general. Given a context in which the government vector supplants the forces originating from civil society, there is a process of construction of the institutional design that is not always permeable by democratic relations that favor equality and equity in the process of elaboration of the OPVV.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T23:39:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_11835_Dissertação - André Luiz Souto Tavares.pdf: 1375955 bytes, checksum: af1f072ad3dca59dab9b3b6c1108be6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / A figura dos Orçamentos Participativos (OP), enquanto instrumento de deliberação e participação pública, é saudado não apenas por ser capaz de viabilizar alguns dos pressupostos mais centrais das perspectivas normativas das democracias, mas também como objeto de inclusão política e promoção de justiça social. A partir das principais variáveis apontadas na literatura como fatores determinantes no êxito dos OPs (desenho institucional, associativismo e compromisso governamental), o objetivo da presente pesquisa é compreender, a partir da relação entre as referidas variáveis, a experiência de elaboração do Orçamento Participativo no Município de Vila Velha (OPVV) no biênio 2017-2018. Para tanto, foram utilizadas informações a partir de trabalhos acadêmicos, documentos oficiais, entrevistas com os atores do OP e, como complemento destas fontes, o emprego do método da observação participante nas assembleias e reuniões do OPVV. Em que pese a ausência de clareza na definição dos critérios de filtragem das ações viáveis entre as etapas do OPVV, a análise da variável compromisso governamental mostrou que a administração empenhara-se em todas as fases do processo de elaboração do OPVV, de modo a haver um significativo esforço na realização das assembleias microrregionais nos bairros, bem com a tentativa de incluir a população não presente nas reuniões no processo de participação com a implementação do Orçamento Participativo on-line. Já com relação ao associativismo local, este mostrou-se, no contexto do OPVV, com um baixo nível de organização comunitária, apesar da histórica e relevante tradição associativa no município, principalmente nas décadas de 1970 e 1980, com os movimentos populares que reivindicavam melhorias nas condições de vida da população. Diante de um contexto em que o vetor governamental suplanta as forças oriundas da sociedade civil, há um processo de construção do desenho institucional que nem sempre é permeável por relações democráticas que favoreçam a igualdade e a equidade em todas as etapas do processo de elaboração do OPVV. / The figure of Participatory Budgets (PB) as an instrument of public deliberation is hailed not only for being able to make feasible some of the most central assumptions of the normative perspectives of democracies, but also as an object of political inclusion and. promotion of social justice. Based on the main variables mentioned in the academic as determinants of the success of PBs (institutional design, associativismo and government commitment), the objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between these variables to understand the experience of elaborating the participatory budget in the municipality of Vila Velha for the biennium 2017-2018. In order to do so, it used information from academic papers, official documents, interviews with OP actors and, as a complement to these sources, the use of participatory observation method at OPVV assemblies and meetings. Despite the lack of clarity in the definition of criteria for filtering viable actions between the OPVV phases, the analysis of the variable government commitment showed a commitment of the administration with all phases of the process of preparing the OPVV, so that there was a significant effort in the realization of the micro-regional assemblies in the neighborhoods, as well as the attempt to include the population not present in the meetings in the process of participation with the implementation of the Participatory Budget online. With regard to local associativism, it was a low level of community organization at the context of OPVV, despite the historical and relevant associative tradition in the municipality, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, with popular movements that demanded improvements conditions for population in general. Given a context in which the government vector supplants the forces originating from civil society, there is a process of construction of the institutional design that is not always permeable by democratic relations that favor equality and equity in the process of elaboration of the OPVV.

Participatory Budgeting (PB) has expanded to over 1,500 municipalities worldwide since its inception in Porto Alege, Brazil in 1989 by the leftist Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party). While PB has been adopted throughout the world, it has yet to take hold in the United States. This dissertation examines the introduction of PB to the United States with the first project in Chicago in 2009, and proceeds with an in-depth case study of the largest implementation of PB in the United States: Participatory Budgeting in New York City. I assess the outputs of PB in the United States including deliberations, governance, and participation. I argue that PB produces better outcomes than the status quo budget process in New York City, while also transforming how those who participate understand themselves as citizens, constituents, Council members, civil society leaders and community stakeholders. However, there are serious challenges to participation, including high costs of engagement, process exhaustion, and perils of scalability. I devise a framework for assessment called “citizenly politics,” focusing on: 1) designing participation 2) deliberation 3) participation and 4) potential for institutionalization. I argue that while the material results PB produces are relatively modest, including more innovative projects, PB delivers more substantial non-material or existential results. Existential citizenly rewards include: greater civic knowledge, strengthened relationships with elected officials, and greater community inclusion. Overall, PB provides a viable and informative democratic innovation for strengthening civic engagement within the United States that can be streamlined and adopted to scale. / Government

One monumental problem the East African Community faces today is implementation of its proposed bill known as the East African Community Security Protocol on peace and security. This bill was crafted upon the basis of existing scholarship which examines security and community either from the top-down/state-centric approaches (neorealism/neoliberalism/constructivism/etc.) or as vernacular security--bottom-up. Both of these approaches are inadequate in that they still a) prioritize the state/relate to the state/central authority, b) are Eurocentric (based on/dominated by European points of views), and c) do not adequately explain security collaborations in areas such as East Africa (EA). Therefore, this thesis develop a "responsive security community" approach which does not only ties top-down and ground-up approach, but it also advocates for development of strong states before the creation of a security community. This thesis argue that different states have their very different historical backgrounds and legacies. Hence, in order to have effective security community in EA there need be responsive, human security oriented states which embrace participation and inclusion in sub-national and national level. This would ensure the protection of the vital core of all their citizens' lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfillment. To discuss this responsive community approach, this thesis analyzes the theories of security community post WW II in conjunction with the development of the East African Community Security Protocol. This thesis also employs the theories of Participatory Budgeting (PB) and ground up approach as models for strengthening state and East African Civil Society Organization Forum (EACSOF). This thesis concludes that responsive security community in EA requires strong states which combine a focus on traditional notions of security with human/individual security. / Master of Public and International Affairs

No / "Enabling Multichannel Participation through ICT Adaptations for Participatory Budgeting ICT-enabled platform” (EMPATIA) is a multi-channel participatory budgeting (PB) platform that represents a significant social innovation process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, involving citizens within complex public-institution structures. EMPATIA was targeted to deliver socio-economic and political benefits, such as enhancing citizen-government engagement, increasing public value through PB process, promoting ‘inclusiveness’ among the marginalized groups of citizens, and impeding political discontent that underpins distrust and skepticism towards the government. The attainment of these benefits will be driven by the EMPATIA's performance. Hence, a performance measurement tools is needed to enable assessment of EMPATIA, empirically. With an aim to propose an integrated performance evaluation metrics, this study presents a set of assessment criteria for multi-channel digitally enabled PB service platforms – especially EMPATIA. Findings from a qualitative, multi-strategies research approach suggest that the metrics should include five key technical and non-technical performance indicators, to be used as basis for the development of future evaluation instruments. Of major signposts, the metrics would inform key performance aspects to be considered during the PB platform development, and evaluated to indicate the PB platform performance.

Although participatory budgeting (PB) was introduced in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2005, it has yet to be widely adopted. While PB has great potential to enhance citizen participation in the democratic process, little academic research has focused on the utility of PB as a mechanism for citizen empowerment in the region. The purpose of this case study was to gain further understanding of the role of civil society in educating and empowering the citizens of Ijede LCDA in Lagos State, Nigeria to participate effectively in budgetary decision-making processes. The data were gathered from 15 semi-structured, one-on-one interviews of purposefully selected participants that included adult citizens of Ijede, government officials, politicians, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) connected to the budget process, two follow-up focus groups with participants, and analysis of government budgetary documents. Using Avritzer's theory of participatory institutions as the foundation, the study explored stakeholder perceptions of how citizens can be effectively educated and empowered to participate in the PB process. The data revealed the fragility of PB when local government officials suspended the process because other financial demands were considered more expedient than PB, a situation made possible in the absence of a legal framework institutionalizing the process. Another major theme uncovered is that PB must engage community-based organizations to be effective. Positive social change in the form of enhanced citizen participation in the political process can come about in Nigeria if PB is implemented under an institutionalized legal framework that guarantees sustainability.