Civic Engagement Through Participatory Budgeting in China

Civic Engagement Through Participatory Budgeting in China
Author: Baogang He
Publisher:
Total Pages: 12
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

This article seeks to develop an understanding of participatory budgeting (PB) in China by examining its three distinctive logics -- administrative, political reform and citizen empowerment -- and how they operate and intertwine. The background to recent PB is outlined, followed by an overview of the three logics, the mapping of PB developments and activities across China, a discussion of various patterns and related characteristics of PB, an evaluation of PB against a number of criteria within the three logics and a consideration of the prospects for PB. The analysis draws on several sources, including newspaper and journal articles, personal involvement in five PB experiments over the last 6 years, and numerous field trips and interviews with national and local officials. The overall conclusion is that, while the administrative logic will remain dominant in PB experiments, the empowering of local People's Congresses will continue to be constrained by the caution of the central leaders and resistance from local governments. Likewise, the empowering of citizens through PB will be limited by government control.

Deliberation with Chinese Characteristics

Deliberation with Chinese Characteristics
Author: Su Yun Woo
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2023-03-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000850668

Woo investigates examples of the Chinese government using methods normally associated with deliberative democracy to involve their citizenry in decision-making at a sub-national level. Despite the tightening of civil society under Xi there are still some opportunities for the Chinese people to articulate their opinions and participate in decision making. The proliferation of deliberative democratic practices is motivated by the CCP’s strong governance logic, to strengthen regime legitimacy and stability. Woo examines deliberative participation through the lens of participatory budgeting in China, and investigates its impact on local governance. To make sense of this model of deliberative democratic governance in China, she unpacks the relationship between deliberative democracy and governance. This requires delving into the forms and functions of deliberation with Chinese characteristics, especially to show how they depart from the Western deliberative democratic experiences. What is the Chinese deliberative discourse in relation to the Western conception of deliberative democracy? How can the Chinese deliberative experience contribute to the concept of deliberative governance? How does deliberation impact upon local governance in China? An intriguing read both for scholars of Chinese politics and for political scientists looking at comparative examples of deliberative governance.

Deliberation with Chinese Characteristics

Deliberation with Chinese Characteristics
Author: Su Yun Woo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre: Budget
ISBN: 9781032319254

"Woo investigates examples of the Chinese government using methods normally associated with deliberative democracy to involve their citizenry in decision-making at a sub-national level. Despite the tightening of civil society under Xi there are still some opportunities for the Chinese people to articulate their opinions and participate in decision making. The proliferation of deliberative democratic practices is motivated by the CCP's strong governance logic, to strengthen regime legitimacy and stability. Woo examines deliberative participation through the lens of participatory budgeting in China, and investigates its impact on local governance. To make sense of this model of deliberative democratic governance in China, she unpacks the relationship between deliberative democracy and governance. This requires delving into the forms and functions of deliberation with Chinese characteristics, especially to show how they depart from the Western deliberative democratic experiences. What is the Chinese deliberative discourse in relation to the Western conception of deliberative democracy? How can the Chinese deliberative experience contribute to the concept of deliberative governance? How does deliberation impact upon local governance in China? An intriguing read both for scholars of Chinese politics and for political scientists looking at comparative examples of deliberative governance"--

Citizen Participation in China

Citizen Participation in China
Author: Xijin Jia
Publisher: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2011-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9783843382397

Citizen participation is one of the essential issues for democracy. The value of democracy cannot be realized without citizen participation. Taking citizen participation as citizen power, this book studied on 6 cases which represented different levels of citizen power. The six cases included: participatory budgeting by Township Chinese People' s Congress, public policy advocacy, NGOs participation in government procurement, participatory governance in urban communities, participation governance by farms' organization in rural area, and participatory governance among the migrant workers. The book studied the essential mechanism, principles, problem, results, and preconditions of the cases.

Participatory Budgeting and Civic Tech

Participatory Budgeting and Civic Tech
Author: Hollie Russon Gilman
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2016
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1626163405

Participatory budgeting is one of the most promising innovations in twenty-first century democracy. It was pioneered abroad but made its first appearance in the United States in 2009 in Chicago local government. Participatory budgeting empowers citizens to identify community needs, work with elected officials to craft budget proposals, and vote on where and how to spend public funds. It is effective at engaging citizens to be meaningful participants in democracy. Unlike other forms of civic engagement, participatory budgeting involves spending real public money on the priorities that the community identifies. Participatory budgeting is catching on in cities across the United States such as Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, and San Francisco. Hollie Russon Gilman has written a brief and accessible introduction to participatory budgeting in the United States. This Digital Short will be ideal reading for students and practitioners.

Participatory Budgeting

Participatory Budgeting
Author: Anwar Shah
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821369245

This book provides rigorous and provocative understanding of the art and practice of participatory budgeting for those interested in strengthening inclusive and accountable governance.

Citizen Participation at the Local Level in China and Canada

Citizen Participation at the Local Level in China and Canada
Author: Andrew Sancton
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2014-11-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1482228971

What, if anything, is similar about citizen participation at the local level in Canada and China? The answer, of course, is politically sensitive. There are many in Canada who would claim that the question is absurd. How can there be meaningful citizen participation in a country where there are significant restrictions on political activity, including on the right to form organizations with political purposes? Presenting the work of leading scholars, Citizen Participation at the Local Level in China and Canada examines how citizens in each country participate at the local level. The book examines the development of citizen participation in local governance in Canada and China respectively. It then covers the characteristics of political culture and climate on local participation, highlighting factors especially unique to urban poor, class migration, and aboriginal and immigrant populations. The chapters also explore means of protest, demonstration, and articulation of preference by populations and issues where citizen participation has effected change such as land use, housing, urban development, and resource sustainability. The book includes case studies that compare Canadian and Chinese communities and extrapolate interesting policy-level changes at the local level based on citizen behavior and involvement. It underscores the similarities and differences in political participation in both countries and sets the stage for the steps in the citizen participation in both countries.

The Rationalization of Public Budgeting in China

The Rationalization of Public Budgeting in China
Author: Yan Wu
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

Participatory budgeting (PB) has been introduced to China at the grass-root level to strengthen the influence of the public in the budgetary decision-making process. Based on a theoretical framework from the perspective of budgetary decision-making, this paper investigates the driving forces for the implementation of PB in Wuxi City, the procedures of citizen participation, the outcomes of participation, and the future challenges in implementing the reform. Field research was conducted to collect data for this case study, which finds that Wuxi has made some progress in enhancing social, political, economic and technical rationalities but not in legal rationality. This paper also discusses the policy implications of this case study for further development of PB in China.

Militants and Citizens

Militants and Citizens
Author: Gianpaolo Baiocchi
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2005
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780804751230

Brazil’s democracy has frequently been described as unconsolidated, its citizens as apathetic and uninterested in politics. But in Porto Alegre, a host city to the World Social Forum, thousands of ordinary citizens participate in local governance, making binding decisions on urban policy on a daily basis. While there has been immense attention paid to the practice of participatory democracy in Porto Alegre, this is the first book to examine the politics, culture, and day-to-day activities of its citizens. Drawing on the rich tradition of urban ethnography and political theory, the book argues that Porto Alegre’s importance may lie not just with its effective governance, but with its new political logic, namely a greater access to government functions and government officials for traditionally disenfranchised citizens. In an age characterized by seemingly strong voter apathy, this study has global implications. The author shows that in the discussions on the failings of democracy in industrialized countries like the United States, most people may be missing what is central to civic engagement--unimpeded access to government.

Participatory Budgeting in Global Perspective

Participatory Budgeting in Global Perspective
Author: Brian Wampler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2021-07-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0192652451

Participatory Budgeting continues to spread across the globe as government officials and citizens adopt this innovative democratic program in the hopes of strengthening accountability, civil society, and well-being. Governments often adapt PB's basic program design to meet local needs, thus creating wide variation in how PB programs function. Some programs retain features of radical democracy, others focus on community mobilization, and yet other programs seek to promote participatory development. Participatory Budgeting in Global Perspective provides a theoretical and empirical explanation to account for widespread variation in PB's adoption, adaptation, and impacts. This book develops six "PB types" to account for the wide variation in how PB programs function as well as the outcomes they produce. To illustrate the similar patterns across the globe, four empirical chapters present a rich set of case studies that illuminate the wide differences among these programs; chapters are organized regionally, with chapters on Latin America, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and North America. By organizing the chapters regionally, it becomes clear that there are temporal, spatial, economic, and organizational factors that produce different programs across regions, but similar programs within each region. A key empirical finding is that the change in PB rules and design is now leading to significant differences in the outcomes these programs produce. We find that some programs successfully promote accountability, expand civil society, and improve well-being but, too often, researchers do not have any evidence tying PB to significant social or political change.