In the 2019 National Survey for Wales, 81% of respondents stated that they felt they couldnot influence decisions in their local area and only 14% said they were consulted about howpublic funds were spent (National Survey, 2019). Participatory budgeting (PB) offers atangible way to improve these figures, providing transparency about public spending andgiving power to local people to influence decisions. It also has the potential to encouragemore cohesive communities to develop, which in light of the UK’s recent departure from theEU could become increasingly important going forwards.Public discussion about the possibility of introducing PB in Wales has been taking place forover a decade, but the initiative is yet to be widely adopted. In order for PB to reach itspotential as a mechanism for social change, it is vital that the community are activelyinvolved in the process. To explore this idea, the focus of the research will be on therelationship between policymakers, civil society and citizens in Wales, and how aparticipatory approach could be used to improve communication amongst these actors andstrengthen relationships. This is a qualitative study that draws from various theories ofparticipation and relies on data from in-depth interviews with professionals and practitionersinvolved in PB in Wales.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-24007 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Samuel, Abby |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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