Parties, government and legislative power in the participatory budgeting (PB) disputes: a comparative analysis

Abstract

This article aims to broaden the debate about the disputes between the PB, the parties and the local political actors, by presenting a systematic and diachronic analysis of the impacts of the balance of power of the governing and opposition parties, outlined within the scope of the electoral arena, on the adoption, interruption, interruption and the end of this democratic innovation, as well as on its different degrees of institutionalization. To this end, we analyzed three counterfactual pairs of municipalities with mostly similar characteristics, namely: São Carlos and Piracicaba; Rio Claro and Leme; Matão and Sertãozinho, which differ from each other by the party that led the PB initiative (PT and other parties). The results reveal a universe little explored and likely to be replicated in other contexts, contributing both to the expansion of the debate on the role of the legislative power in the degree of institutionalization of participatory institutions and to the improvement of this research agenda.