Becoming a Best Practice
Becoming a Best Practice
Neoliberalism and the Curious Case of Participatory Budgeting
This chapter examines how the concept of “participatory budgeting” has become a global phenomenon. It traces the genealogy of participatory budgeting, from its original formulation as a tool of grassroots democracy in Brazil in the mid-1980s to its emergence as a best practice for intergovernmental organizations such as USAID and the World Bank, especially in the area of good governance. It explains how participatory budgeting evolved into a model of participatory democracy that deemphasized associations and collectives in favor of the individual citizen. It also considers the notion that political and economic elites colonized “pure” participation in order to legitimate the expansion of capitalist markets, suggesting that regulation and governance questions are always a part of public participation and that participatory practices are never exactly utopian.
Keywords: participatory budgeting, grassroots democracy, Brazil, best practice, intergovernmental organizations, USAID, World Bank, good governance, participatory democracy, public participation
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