Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: An Institutional Theory of Participatory Budgeting

政治学博士论文研究：参与式预算的制度理论

• 批准号: 1423877
• 负责人: Margaret Levi
• 金额: $ 1.91万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1423877&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

The project addresses several critical questions about the connection between decision-making practices and democracy: How does participatory budgeting, a process in which a government sets aside part of a public budget for the community to allocate, impact patterns of political behavior and civic engagement in the communities where it is implemented? Are investments in new opportunities for public involvement in budgeting worthwhile? This project tests assertions about the democratic impact of small-scale governance reforms like participatory budgeting. It advances a new mid-level institutional theory of participatory budgeting that describes how a new set of rules around budgeting may enable new patterns of communication and mobilization within a political community. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods in a comparative evaluation of four cases of participatory budgeting in cities in the US and UK, this research provides a unique set of empirical tests of causal claims about the democratic effects of giving people the chance to directly control local budget decisions.Intellectual Merit: This project investigates fundamental claims about the democratic impact of narrowly defined participatory governance institutions like participatory budgeting. It integrates disparate but related literatures explaining civic engagement, political institutions, and democratic quality, empirically testing assertions advanced by value-based theories of democracy. In developing an institutional theory of how participatory budgeting may transform the political behavior and preferences of people in a community, this project makes a substantive contribution to ongoing debates within political science about the relationship between institutions and what is generally referred to as political culture, the general pattern of beliefs and behaviors that establish default orientations toward political practices in a community. As a new empirical contribution, it also provides one of the first comparative evaluations of participatory budgeting to draw systematic cross-country comparisons in developed democracies. The project takes a much-needed step toward a general understanding of what distinguishes participatory budgeting as a common set of institutions and how these institutions operate within a political community. Broader Impact: This research has several broader impacts. First, it is of direct interest and application to policy makers, government officials, and community leaders. Follow-up to fieldwork has also included distributing specially targeted reports from the research back to participants and local organizers of participatory budgeting processes so they can reflect on and incorporate the observations of their process. Second, this project supports the education of undergraduate students by giving them the chance for extensive research experience. Third, during field research, the Co-PI has been able to provide technical assistance to process organizers to improve their own internal research and evaluation capacity. Finally, this research directly contributes to the economic well-being of the country. More efficient and responsive budgeting processes, as supported by effective and targeted implementation of participatory budgeting will have a direct impact on the economic health of urban areas in the US, by making cities more economically competitive and establishing a better environment for business development.

该项目解决了决策实践和民主之间的联系的几个关键问题：如何参与预算编制，一个过程中，政府留出一部分公共预算的社区分配，影响政治行为和公民参与的社区，它是实施的模式？投资于公众参与预算编制的新机会是否值得？该项目测试了关于参与性预算编制等小规模治理改革的民主影响的断言。它提出了一个新的中层参与式预算编制的制度理论，描述了一套新的预算编制规则如何使新的模式的沟通和动员的政治社区。本研究采用定性和定量的方法，对美国和英国的四个城市参与式预算案例进行了比较评估，提供了一套独特的实证检验，证明了让人们有机会直接控制地方预算决策的民主效果。这个项目调查的民主影响的基本主张狭义的参与性治理机构，如参与性预算。它整合了不同但相关的文献，解释了公民参与、政治制度和民主质量，并从经验上检验了基于价值观的民主理论提出的主张。在发展一个参与式预算如何可能改变政治行为和偏好的人在一个社区的制度理论，这个项目作出了实质性的贡献，在政治学正在进行的辩论机构之间的关系，通常被称为政治文化，信仰和行为的一般模式，建立默认的取向，在一个社区的政治实践。 作为一个新的经验性贡献，它还提供了参与性预算编制的第一个比较评价，以绘制系统的跨国比较发达民主国家之一。该项目采取了一个急需的步骤，对什么区别参与式预算作为一个共同的一套制度，以及这些机构如何在一个政治社区内运作的一般性理解。更广泛的影响：这项研究有几个更广泛的影响。首先，它与决策者、政府官员和社区领袖直接相关并适用于他们。实地工作的后续行动还包括向参与性预算编制进程的参与者和当地组织者分发研究报告，使他们能够反思并纳入对这一进程的观察。第二，该项目支持本科生的教育，让他们有机会获得广泛的研究经验。第三，在实地研究期间，共同参与者能够向进程组织者提供技术援助，以提高其自身的内部研究和评价能力。最后，这项研究直接有助于国家的经济福祉。 在有效和有针对性地实施参与式预算的支持下，更有效和更敏感的预算编制过程将对美国城市地区的经济健康产生直接影响，使城市更具经济竞争力，并为商业发展创造更好的环境。