Competitive Institution Building

The PT and Participatory Budgeting in Rio Grande do Sul

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3027853
AutoresBenjamin Goldfrank (0000-0003-1823-2259), Aaron Schneider (0000-0001-9609-7115)
Ano2006
Volume48
Fascículo03
Páginas1-31
Data de publicação2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLatin American Politics and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1531-426X • E-ISSN: 1548-2456
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-2456.2006.tb00354.x
OpenAlexW2067554178
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas48
Referências citadas18

In the late 1990s, the Workers' Party (PT) government of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul introduced participatory budgeting, a process in which citizens establish annual investment priorities in public assemblies. This innovation was one of several attempts by incumbent parties to structure political conflict using budget institutions. The character of participatory budgeting is most evident in its policymaking processes and policy outcomes. The process circumvented legislative arenas where opponents held a majority, privileged participation by the PT's voter base, and reached into opposition strongholds. The outcomes favored the interests of potential supporters among poor and middle-class voters. The political project proved vulnerable to its own raised expectations: it failed to sustain the image of clean government; brought tax increases along with fiscal insecurity; and left unfulfilled the participants' expectations for targeted investments. This article highlights the role of participatory budgeting, indeed all budgeting, in partisan actors' institutional choices

Budget process · Citizen journalism · Democracy · Economic growth · Economics · Institution · Legislature · Participatory budgeting · Political science · Politics · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social and Economic Solidarity