Public deliberation and participation in the Madrid City Council budgets (2016-2018)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the evolution of citizen participation in the preparation of municipal budgets in Madrid, as well as the role of public communication in the process. To this end, the three years in which citizen collaboration has been requested (2016, 2017 and 2018), have been compiled, and after analyzing the data, it has been concluded that there is growing interest by citizens in theseparticipation mechanisms, although the figures are still quite small. Moreover, it has been shown that these organized groups play an important role in presenting proposals. Finally, it has been determined that participation requires a previous process of deliberation and a certain degree of expert knowledge in order for the results to be viable and sustainable, not only desirable.