We Can Get Something More Complete: Participatory Budgeting to Enhance Sustainability

• Citizen participation in local government budgeting is an important emerging public management reform movement. Budgets are the 'bottom-line' of government policy and action, and participatory budgeting programs bring local communities into the decision-making process around formal resource allocation plans, and so enable citizens to have a direct say in service and infrastructure expenditure. This study of the first participatory budget in any Swedish local government highlights the potential for such community engagement initiatives to contribute to social, economic and environmental sustainability. These contributions flow directly to sustainability through better contemporary ideas and decisions, or to future policy and action via enhanced organisational capabilities and community capacity. But the case also warns of the dangers when the good intentions and substantial resources which are thrown at a project for citizen participation collide with a contrary organizational culture, poorly matched political and managerial frameworks, and a lack of influential 'receivers' and 'commissioners'.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Participatory Budgeting

Local Government

Sweden

Community Engagement

Social Sustainability

Economic Sustainability

Environmental Sustainability

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)