PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING IN POLAND. Quasi-referendum instead of deliberation (original) (raw)
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Models of participatory budgeting - the case study of Polish city (A. Polko)
Journal of Economics and Management, Vol. 19/2015, 2015
Participatory budgeting as a tool of deliberative democracy is more and more popular in Polish cities. Literature review shows that there is no one the best procedure. Comparing with the typology of participatory budgeting based on European perspectives, the most of Polish cities has chosen model similar to ‘Porto Alegre adapted for Europe’. The weakest link of the Polish approach is to put too much efforts on the projects contest and much less on good-quality deliberation. The case study presented in the last part of the paper shows that each next edition of participatory budgeting contributes to raising awareness and better understanding of the urban development challenges and it should lead to changes the procedures from voting approach to participatory governance approach.
The book is based on the first research results on this scale in Poland obtained thanks to the implementation of a project financed by the National Science Center (2019/33 / B / HS5 / 00353, NCN OPUS 17). The research used methods and tools in the form of desk research, CAWI, a survey and script interviews. One of the main reasons for undertaking the research was the fact that in the last decade the popularity of solutions involving citizens in shaping public expenditure under the civic budget has grown significantly in Poland, reaching a level comparable to world leaders in this category. The purpose of this research project focusing on analysis of public policies is to characterize and describe the tendencies in evolution of the participatory budget, an important tool in contemporary democracies, described and standardized in the Polish law as “civic budget”.
Models of Participatory Budgeting - the Case Study of Polish City
2015
IntroductionParticipatory budgeting emerged for the first time at the end of 1980s in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. Since then, both the principles and effects of this most famous example has been discussed many times (Sintomer, Herzberg, Rocke 2008; Baiocchi 2005; Avritzer 2006). During the last three decades the idea of participatory budgeting has spread to many places in the world. Therefore, there are more and more cities in Poland where participatory budgeting has been introduced. In 2013, more than 70 municipalities in Poland implemented this tool of democratic innovation (Kraszewski, Mojkowski 2014, p. 4).Both the growing popularity of participatory budgeting and at the same time a very large diversity of approaches used by local communities leads to many research questions: Is participatory budgeting only a fashionable tool used by local governments to create a favourable impression on citizens, or it is more and more significant tool for local governance? Does partici...
Participatory Budgeting as a Form of Direct Democracy at the Local Level
Przegląd Prawa Konstytucyjnego, 2019
The paper discusses participatory budgeting as one of the institutions of direct democracy and a form of co-decision of residents in the process of spending public funds at the disposal of local government units. Its essence is the activation of citizens, building trust and cooperation between the authorities and the inhabitants, as well as the implementation of the principles of equality and social justice. The significance of the participatory budgeting as a new form of influence on the decisions of the local government apparatus is not so much about ensuring citizens participation in managing public finances as it is primarily about education and increasing public awareness in the area of democratization of local government. The participatory budgeting in Poland was considered in the view of models of democracy: direct, representative (conventional) and participatory.
Participatory Budgeting in Poland – Assumptions vs Reality
The Copernicus Journal of Political Studies, 2018
sherry arnstein (1969), the author of the participation ladder, emphasizes that "social participation" resembles spinach eating-basically no one is against because in the end it is healthy. The article presents different views of participation (civic, social and individual participation). additionally the key assumptions for one of the techniques of engaging residents in social life, which is the participatory budget, are presented herein. The author, apart from the criteria and values of the civic budget and on the basis of observation and content analysis, pointed out the problems which polish cities face during the implementation of the participatory budgeting process. The article may provide a starting point for further reflections on not only the general state of participation in poland, but also on the analysis of polish participatory budgets .
Participatory Budgeting as Democracy Amplifier in Poland and Ukraine. Analytical Report
Worldwide, participatory budgeting has demonstrated multiple effects stimulating local democracy. And this study aimed to compare the complex impact of participatory budgeting on local democracy in Poland and Ukraine. Using mixed methods, this research identified the observed impact of participatory budgeting on resident empowerment, community activism, and civic education in Polish and Ukrainian regional centers. The findings can be useful for scholars of democracy and good governance as well as for civic activists and public officials striving for a more empowered participatory democracy.
Involving citizens in public decision making: the case of participatory budgeting in Lithuania
Financial Theory and Practice, 2013
In times of increasing public distrust in government and its institutions, engaging the public in decision making may strengthen democracy as well as result in a more effective allocation of scarce public resources. Participatory budgeting has started in Brazil and spread around the world but is a new concept in some countries. The objective of this paper is to reveal the current situation of attempts to involve the public in making decisions on budget allocations in Lithuanian municipalities, disclose barriers to a more active participation, and propose possible strategies for greater public empowerment. For that purpose a survey was designed that was filled out by members of municipal councils. The results indicate that members of municipal councils are aware of the advantages of participatory budgeting. However, there are numerous barriers for meaningful citizen participation, including lack of financial resources, occasional incompetence of municipal administration, citizens' indifference, and bureaucratic inertia.
Participatory Budget as a Tool Supporting the Development of Civil Society in Poland
The NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Vol. XIII, No. 1, Summer 2020, 2020
Although three decades have passed since the fall of communism in Poland, the observed level of social activity in the country is relatively low. Participatory budget emerged as an idea to increase the involvement of citizens in decision-making processes concerning their immediate surroundings. In addition to their inclusion in the activity of local government, this form of citizen participation is expected to have a positive impact on residents' involvement in activities for the benefit of the local community. The aim of this article is to indicate the conditions that influenced the implementation of the idea of the first participatory budget in Poland and emphasizing the importance of the civic budget in managing public administration through partial decentralization involving local communities in social dialogue for local investment initiatives, especially in large provincial cities in Poland. The following research question was adopted in the paper: has the introduction of a participatory budget in Poland increased social activity and has it been conducive to the development of civil society. In Poland, the initiative to create a civic budget met good political conditions in the relatively small city of Sopot, which had the resources to implement the project. After successful implementation, this initiative was relatively quickly adopted by other Polish local governments, which then on their own introduced social consultations called the civic budget. The study showed that the participatory budget indeed activates the local community around various projects. At the same time, the question of directly translating this activity into an increase in the number of organizations, associations and foundations remains debatable. The introduction of the participatory budget to administrative management practice in local-government units in Poland should be considered in terms of the soft power impact of administration on the shaping and development of civil society, which is still in the development stage in Poland.
Determinants of the success of participatory budgets in Poland
International Journal of Management and Economics/Boletín Informativo, 2024
The present paper aims to determine what factors affect the success of participatory budgets in Polish cities and what factors affect the size of these budgets. The study covered all 66 cities with powiat rights from 2016 to 2021. A panel data model was used. The first research hypothesis states that the success of participatory budgeting depends on the economic condition of the cities implementing it. The second one states that the success of participatory budgeting depends on the characteristics of the LGUs' residents. The first hypothesis was confirmed, while the second was partially confirmed. Analyzing four different models with different explanatory variables, it was found that the statistically significant explanatory variables were population, material situation, demographic structure measures, and residents' economic situation.
Participatory Budgeting at the Local Level:Challenges and Opportunities for New Democracies
The main goals of this paper are to examine the existing models of participatory budgeting (PB), to match the various models to different constellations of contextual variables and to investigate the applicability of PB in the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). First, the article gives an overview of the different (Western) European PB models put forth in the existing literature (Porto Alegre adapted for Europe, proximity participation, consultation on public finance, multistakeholder participation, and community participatory budgeting) and outlines the main environmental variables (financial autonomy, political culture, the size, heterogeneity and prosperity of the local government (LG) units) that are likely to influence the applicability and feasibility of PB in different LGs. As a second step, the paper analyses the links between different PB models and the environmental variables: it examines under which conditions each of the PB models would be applicable and advisable. As a third step, the article discusses the applicability of different PB models in the new democracies in the CEE region. As the analysis shows, limited financial autonomy of the local governments and the prevailing political culture (combined with weak civil society) are likely to constitute the main challenges to implementing PB in CEE countries, especially if the implementation of the Porto Alegre model is considered. At the same time, PB could be used to encourage the development of participatory culture in the region and to foster genuine decentralisation.