Transformations of participatory budgeting in Spain: From the implementation of the porto alegre model to the instrumentalization of the new experiences

Abstract

We present a study about the evolution of Participatory Budgeting in Spain, from its appearance at the beginning of the 21st century to the present day. Participatory Budgeting is a methodology of public management and participatory democracy in which citizens, in a space of dialogue and deliberation, decide on a part of the municipal budget. The study starts from the models proposed by Ganuza and Francés (2012) and focuses on the experiences of the “Big Cities”. The results indicate the emergence of a new model, which we have called “instrumentalist”, with fewer deliberative spaces and where technologies are the predominant participatory mechanism.