Porto Alegre
Neighbourhood assemblies set priorities; Baiocchi (2001, 2005) saw empowered poor residents and deliberative democracy in practice.
Diffusion
Cabannes (2004) and Sintomer et al. (2008) map variants; Gilman and Wampler (2019) contrast the US. Korea mandated it for local governments in 2011.
Outcomes and limits
Touchton and Wampler (2014) found lower infant mortality; Wampler (2007) shows success needs political will. See co-production.
FAQ
- What is it in simple terms?
- Residents propose and vote on how part of the local budget is spent.
- Does it work?
- It has improved health outcomes in Brazil but can become tokenistic.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Baiocchi, G. (2001). Participation, activism, and politics: The Porto Alegre experiment and deliberative democratic theory. Politics & Society, 29(1), 43–72. Links the Porto Alegre experiment to deliberative democratic theory.
- Cabannes, Y. (2004). Participatory budgeting: A significant contribution to participatory democracy. Environment and Urbanization, 16(1), 27–46. Compares many cities, showing the diversity of designs.
- Baiocchi, G. (2005). Militants and citizens: The politics of participatory democracy in Porto Alegre. Stanford University Press. An ethnography of how citizens actually participated.
- Wampler, B. (2007). Participatory budgeting in Brazil: Contestation, cooperation, and accountability. Penn State University Press. Compares successes and failures across Brazilian cities.
- Sintomer, Y., Herzberg, C., & Röcke, A. (2008). Participatory budgeting in Europe: Potentials and challenges. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 32(1), 164–178. A typology of European adaptations.
- Touchton, M., & Wampler, B. (2014). Improving social well-being through new democratic institutions. Comparative Political Studies, 47(10), 1442–1469. Finds better health spending and lower infant mortality where it was adopted.
- Gilman, H. R., & Wampler, B. (2019). The difference in design: Participatory budgeting in Brazil and the United States. Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 15(1). Compares Brazilian and US designs and their effects.