Participatory Budgeting Case Studies throughout the Ages: A Longitudinal, Thematic, Systematic Literature Study

Abstract

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is often utilized to initiate citizen involvement in governmental processes and familiarize them with public spending. It can help to increase transparency, communication between citizens and government and improve quality of life of the communities. Other times, it can increase costs with little returns. Overall, we have limited knowledge about PB development trajectories, practices, state of art, and future research possibilities. Hence, we have conducted a systematic, longitudinal, thematic literature review, that has examined 92 case studies of PB, and reveals that interest in PB research has been reflective of global movements e.g., the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the like. The field, however, is also growing in maturity and needs specialized research on PB tools, sustainability, inclusion, amongst other topics.