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Making Women Protagonist: How to Foster Participation in Gender Budgeting
Abstract
The participation of citizens (especially women) in the budgeting process could be crucial in promoting gender equality enhancing the female role in society (Steccolini. Public Money and Management 39(5):379–383, 2019; Pastore and Tommaso. Gender-responsive budgeting processes in the Italian regional and local governments, in Paoloni, Lombardi (Eds), Gender studies, entrepreneurship and human capital, Springer, Cham, 2020). People’s engagement in the budgeting process could privilege equality in accessing different capabilities, focusing on the needs and expectations rather than merely analysing how the resources have been allocated (Gunluk-Senesen. Public Money & Management 41(7):554–560, 2021; Rubin and Bartle. Public Administration, 2021), as in standard gender budgeting (Klatzer et al. Developments in practice: Methodologies and approaches to gender budgeting, in O’Hagan and Klatzer (Eds), Gender Budgeting in Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 109–133, 2018). Furthermore, the inclusion of digital tools could enable women’s engagement in gender budgeting, as in the participatory budgeting experiences (Stortone and De Cindio. Hybrid participatory budgeting: Local democratic practices in the digital era, in Foth, Brynskov, and Ojala (Eds), Citizen’s right to the digital city, Springer, Berlin, 177–197, 2015; Sampaio and Peixoto. Electronic participatory budgeting: false dilemmas and true complexities, in Gastil and Knobloch (Eds), Hope for democracy, 413–426, 2014). Therefore, the present research investigates the integration of a participatory perspective in gender budgeting, highlighting the relevance of digital technologies in enhancing citizens’, specifically women’s, engagement (Stortone and De Cindio. Hybrid participatory budgeting: Local democratic practices in the digital era, in Foth, Brynskov, and Ojala (Eds), Citizen’s right to the digital city, Springer, Berlin, 177–197, 2015).This study is ascribable to a conceptual paper in that it led to the development of a new model, building on theories and concepts identified and tested through empirical research (Jaakkola. AMS Review 10(1):18–26, 2020). Therefore, reviewing the existing literature about participatory budgeting (Papadopoulos and Warin. European Journal of Political Research 46(4): 445–472, 2007; Sintomer et al. Dialog Global 25:1–93, 2013; Bartocci et al. International Journal of Public Sector Management 32(1):65–79, 2019), gender budgeting (Klatzer et al. Developments in practice: Methodologies and approaches to gender budgeting, in O’Hagan, Klatzer (Eds), Gender Budgeting in Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 109–133, 2018; Gunluk-Senesen. Public Money & Management 41(7):554–560, 2021) and digital tools’ effect on citizens’ engagement (Stortone and De Cindio. Hybrid participatory budgeting: Local democratic practices in the digital era, in Foth, Brynskov, and Ojala (Eds), Citizen’s right to the digital city, Springer, Berlin, 177–197, 2015; Sampaio and Peixoto. Electronic participatory budgeting: false dilemmas and true complexities, in Gastil and Knobloch (Eds), Hope for democracy, 413–426, 2014), a new “participatory” gender budgeting framework is created.The peculiarity of this research lies in its comprehensive approach in studying gender budgeting and its “participatory” view, in line with the paradigm of public management called New Public Governance (Osborne. Public Management Review 8(3):377–387, 2006), which calls for greater involvement of citizens. This is pursued through digital tools that can enhance the government’s capability to intercept citizens’ needs and perceptions (Grossi et al. Meditari Accountancy Research 29(7):75–93, 2021).The most significant contribution consists of developing a comprehensive model that integrates gender budgeting, usually a posteriori, with citizens’ participation and engagement, typical of participatory budgeting. The nexus between gender budgeting and participatory budget has been already analysed in the past (Ng. Gender-responsive and participatory budgeting: Imperatives for equitable public expenditure. Springer, Cham, 2016). However, no work seems to integrate these processes with digitalisation, suggesting some practical measures, such as introducing a platform for collecting citizens’ proposals.KeywordsGender equalityParticipatory governanceGender-responsive budgetingWomen’s empowerment
... The obtained results confirm the outlined problems(Paoloni et al., 2023) regarding the insufficiency of a fair legal mechanism for gender budgeting. The researchers Wittbom and Häyrén (2023) draw attention to the obvious positive impact of gender budgeting on the social sphere, which is consistent with the opportunities for ensuring gender equality identified in our research. ...
Проблематика застосування гендерного бюджетування у розвитку громадської інфраструктури та соціальної сфери є фактором забезпечення гендерної рівності та сталого розвитку в сучасних демократичних державах. Ефективність гендерного бюджетування є складовою підвищення доступності та якості послуг для всіх громадян. Метою дослідження є аналіз впливу гендерного бюджетування на розвиток громадської інфраструктури та соціальної сфери. В статті приділена увага ідентифікації перспектив та викликів його застосування на місцевому рівні. У роботі проведено детальний аналіз практики бюджетування в Україні та країнах Європейського Союзу. Результати дослідження демонструють, що гендерне бюджетування сприяє підвищенню ефективності бюджетних витрат і врахуванню гендерних аспектів у плануванні та виконанні проектів. В статті визначено рівень забезпечення гендерних прав, основні проблеми та виклики, які пов'язані з його реалізацією. Особливу увагу приділено розробці рекомендацій для ефективнішого впровадження гендерного бюджетування в Україні та інших країнах. Практичне значення дослідження полягає у виявленні можливостей для покращення гендерної рівності через оптимізацію бюджетних процесів та внесенні пропозицій для місцевих органів влади та зацікавлених сторін.
This chapter aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of gender diversity within the upper leadership positions in Italian public universities. We aim to assess the representation of women in senior positions pre and post-implementation of the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) guidelines for the preparation of gender budgeting. Gender budgeting can be considered a component of the sustainability report, specifically focusing on the gender dimension. Furthermore, we aim to identify any improving trends in gender inclusivity within the academic leadership landscape, highlighting the impact of the introduction of guidelines on the composition of senior roles.
The methodology employed was quantitative, adopting a statistical approach for the analysis. Our sample comprised public universities in the Italian academic landscape, selected based on the Censis 2023 ranking. Data collection involved the analysis of the sustainability reports and/or gender budgeting reports of the selected universities. We applied the theoretical framework of nudge theory to interpret our findings. Nudge theory aims to shape choice architecture to encourage desired outcomes while maintaining freedom of choice, enabling organizations to achieve their goals indirectly.
This chapter has both theoretical and practical implications. Specifically, it contributes to the existing literature on gender budgeting and gender equality studies in universities. Our study contributes to illustrating the relationship between the implementation of guidelines and the evolution of gender diversity within the upper roles of leadership in Italian public universities. Then, this study is directed to academics, policymakers, and decision-makers. The chapter aims to fill a gap in the literature. In particular, we examine the effects of introducing the CRUI guidelines on the composition of senior positions in Italian public universities.
This work aims to critically analyze the role of technologies to reduce inequality in public administration, exploring their contribution to the translation of knowledge into innovative dynamics. In the context of the growing recognition of innovation as central factor in organizational development (, this paper focuses specifically on its impact in fostering an inclusive work environment within public organizations. Using the structure literature review (SLR) methodology, this paper systematically reviews the existing literature to identify key trends and future directions for diversity management in public administration . Specifically, 715 international contributions (articles, books, and book chapters) on the selected SCOPUS database were analyzed. The research builds on the notion of gender equality as a strategic resource allocation mechanism (Toren, Higher Education 25:439–455, 1993) and contributes to the stream of literature on gender studies by creating food for thought on the vital importance of pro-diversity management strategies in promoting an equitable work environment (Chordiya, Public Personnel Management 51:235–260, 2022). Such analysis is essential to enable stakeholders to understand the added value that diversity management brings to public institutions. The findings, derived from the specific examination of public entities, may not wholly translate to the private sector’s context. The dominant theme concerns “social and governance,” demonstrating an intense focus on the importance of information transparency and citizen participation for good governance. Gender studies, on the other hand, underline the criticality of overcoming structural and cultural barriers, promoting policies and practices that enhance gender diversity within public administration. This contrast reflects a broad recognition of the social impact of innovation and a growing, but still insufficient, focus on gender mainstreaming as a key aspect for truly inclusive innovation in the PA. The manual review process of structure literature review (SLR) results can be considered a limitation of this study. In addition, a further disadvantage of the research is its dependence on a single database.
This systematic literature review analyses the body of knowledge on the budgeting practice known as participatory budgeting (PB). This review identifies and analyses a dataset of 139 English-language papers focused on PB in the public sector published over three decades (1989–2019) in academic journals of different disciplines. The findings shed new light on PB, by systematizing this body of knowledge and explaining the PB idea journey. A research agenda is also set by clarifying overlooked areas of research and practical interests.
Points for practitioners
The review provides a conceptual model to cope with specific issues in each phase of a PB journey, and it also sheds light on the role of political and managerial actors. Traditional and new themes to design a PB and implement participatory mechanisms are proposed. Practitioners can benefit from indications about the use of technological tools in mobilizing participation.
In light of readiness to change, organizational readiness has received little attention with the extensive assessment of individual readiness to change. (1) Background: Therefore, this conceptual paper aims to address the need for change at the organizational level through the lenses of Lewin theory, organizational change theory, and social exchange theory. It will identify issues and implications in readiness to change at the organizational level; (2) Methods: The primary method used in the study was mainly a literature review to add neglected factors driving change such as contextual factors and technology. (3) Results: The paper shows how various players and other determinants of successful change implementation can derail the organization’s readiness to embrace change. (4) Conclusions: The paper adds to the available knowledge on how technology is likely to affect organizational willingness to change. The study suggests various solutions that seek to address the issues on organizational readiness to change. Hence, this study may provide organizational managers with takeaway implications on change management for policymakers and practitioners to improve an organization’s preparedness towards change implementation.
In recognition of gender inequities, more than 80 countries have applied a gender perspective to their budget process, initiatives referred to as gender‐responsive budgeting (GRB). Research on GRB initiatives has focused on whether they reduce gender inequities. However, if it is to have a lasting effect, GRB must reform the budget process and become integral to government administrative routines. We examine the experiences of several countries with GRB initiatives and identify the key factors explaining implementation success or failure. We find that these factors are similar to those that explain the success of earlier budget reforms focused on efficiency and effectiveness. While the equity objective of GRB differentiates it from other budget reforms, these factors provide the context for understanding GRB initiatives. Although gender parity is just one dimension of social equity, the success of GRB initiatives shows that governments can use their budgets to meet social equity objectives.
With digitalisation, the male-dominated bioeconomy sector becomes intertwined with the male-dominated tech sector. We focus on the effects on gender equality within the bioeconomy sector when these two gender unequal sectors are merged. We review the existing literature by studying three concepts – bioeconomy, digitalisation and gender – as a way to highlight the current state of knowledge on gender in the Nordic digitalised bioeconomy. Through this investigation we provide directions for future research and suggest actions to be taken. The contemporary literature discusses two major areas of focus: the impact of history on today’s situation and gender inequality as a women’s issue. We propose four areas of future research focus: moving beyond a historical perspective, understanding the effectiveness of women-only activities, focusing on men’s role in gender equality work, and developing sustainability. We identify four points of action for practitioners in the literature: female role models, mentorship programmes, networks for young professionals and students and incorporating gender into bioeconomy-related education. However, together with the proposed future research, we suggest two considerations when practitioners in the Nordic digitalised bioeconomy take action: being mindful of the purpose and structure of women-only activities and including men when working with gender issues.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the usefulness of popular reporting (PR) in an Italian city as a dialogic accounting tool for promoting citizens’ engagement with digital platforms. This study aims to contribute to the debate on democratic accounting technologies with a focus on PR and digital platforms, using the theoretical lens of dialogic accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal case study is used to analyse the implementation and evolution of PR in the city of Turin, Italy and explore how the city involved its citizens with digital platforms.
Findings
This study contributes to the debate on public accountability through dialogic accounting tools.
Research limitations/implications
Multiple sources (surveys, interviews and interventionist workshops) are used to analyse Turin, Italy as a longitudinal case study.
Practical implications
This study offers practical reflections for legislators, politicians and public managers who need new knowledge and empirical analysis of the effective implementation of the PR as a tool for dialogue and empowering public accounting to hold continuous dialogue with the citizens.
Originality/value
PR can be considered a useful dialogic accounting tool for politicians, managers and government experts to encourage citizens’ engagement in a pluralistic society.
Gender budgeting calls for including a gender perspective at all levels of governmental budgetary processes. While the literature on gender budgeting is interdisciplinary and covers a wide geographical range, it remains fragmented. This study uses a literature review to examine the current discourse on gender budgeting and to elicit avenues for future research. Our review shows that studies focus either on emerging economies, such as India or South Africa, or on countries in Europe. Drawing on an analytical framework, we find that most studies scrutinize the ex ante stages of gender budgeting, whereas less is known about the concurrent and ex post stages. Moreover, because little is known about the outcome and impact of gender budgeting, governments do not know what instruments function best in different settings. Given their ex ante focus, most studies on gender budgeting often either remain descriptive or analyse secondary data. Despite scholars from different disciplines contributing to the field of gender budgeting, several ‘blank spots’ remain, particularly in public sector accounting.
Points for practitioners
While current gender budgeting projects tend to focus on the ex ante stage of gender budgeting, future practitioner attention needs to focus on the equally important concurrent and ex post stages, which have received less attention thus far. An increasing number of governments worldwide are implementing gender budgeting projects. Governments need to evaluate the outcome and impact of these projects in a timely fashion, aiming at reducing structural inequalities related to gender. Gender budgeting is willingly adopted in times of prosperity and stability or when the scope of projects appears manageable. To avoid negative impacts on their achievements, policy makers need to put gender budgeting on the political agenda and institutionalize it in times of instability and crisis.
Innovation has been highlighted as a magic formula that can solve deep-seated, emerging complex social and economic problems in the public service sector. However, public innovation efforts face both drivers and barriers. Innovation depends on context, and currently different competing governance paradigms’ influence has attracted growing academic and political interest regarding the potential of public service innovation. Today, new public governance (NPG) has been suggested as an alternative paradigm to classic public administration (CPA) and new public management (NPM), as the focus of attention has shifted from traditional hierarchical forms of government and market-based competition strategies to interactive- and collaborative-based governance. In this paper, we discuss how elements from different governance paradigms interact, support and undermine one another in terms of innovation in hybrid organisations. Although hybridisation has been described in extant studies on administrative welfare reforms, it barely has been examined in the public innovation literature. This is a theoretical paper based on a scoping review; however, we use the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) as an illustrative case to explain how hybridisation may lead to both stimulations and perversions regarding the development, implementation and spread of public service innovation. Finally, the paper reflects on how public leaders can handle hybridity within their organisational units.
This article presents an analysis of why it was possible to reach an agreement on the Next Generation EU (NGEU), the EU's fiscal and policy response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, since the deal breaks with the norms of no common debt issuance and will result in significant redistribution across Member States through grants. Based on an in‐depth case study analysis, we identify three main dimensions of conflict underlying the political negotiations: the fiscal dimension, the rule‐of‐law dimension and the policy dimension, especially the climate and digitalization agendas. Various coalitions of actors were able to negotiate on these aspects, keeping a balance between their main priorities, but also making concessions, to enable an agreement. Our analysis reveals that the Franco‐German alliance has been revived, enabling the grant instrument in the NGEU to be adopted; a new alliance of small rich northern states named the Frugals' has emerged as a surprisingly strong coalition, insisting on conditionality for accessing the grant; a clear Polish‐Hungarian front has appeared to be challenging the EU's commitment to the rule‐of‐law; and a weakly coordinated Spanish‐Italian front was successful in terms of securing grants as an instrument. The article also assesses that despite the agreement on the deal, there will continue to be battles in the NGEU, especially on the fiscal and rule‐of‐law dimensions. Yet, it could represent a ‘Hamiltonian moment,’ if the NGEU becomes a permanent fiscal instrument, which would advance European integration further.
In this paper, we explore ways of creating and strengthening e-democracy on the local government level by means of e-participatory budgeting projects. Having analyzed the existing realm of work on e-democracy values and outputs, we attempt to structure and delineate them by designing a theoretical framework. Its goal is to acquire an understanding of what features are required to generate relevance and participation in the projects. To test the validity of the framework, a case study of one of the Estonian local government e-participatory budgeting projects is selected for analysis. Additionally, the aspects and role of information systems are investigated that enhance digital transformation, decision-making processes, engagement of citizens, and public servants in the context of e-democracy.
Gender-responsive budgeting is an application of gender mainstreaming in all phases of the budgetary cycle, in the allocation of economic and financial resources in gender equal or unequal ways and in decision-making processes. It is a gender-specific accountability document produced by governments from all regions of the world to show what their programs and budgets are achieving with respect to gender equality, to the empowerment of women, and to women’s rights. Integrating a gender budgeting methodology into the ordinary budgetary processes allows governments to understand better the different effects that policies and actions, revenue and expenditure, can have on women and men. Moreover, the gender budget report plays a particularly important role in the improvement of governance: it is a tool available to public administration for self-evaluation and therefore defines increasingly effective and fair administration methods. Through a qualitative approach, this study investigates the most significant gender budgeting initiatives implemented by Italian regions, provinces, and municipalities in order to know which approaches and methodologies in the gender budgeting processes they have adopted internally or promoted on their territories. Particularly, this study analyses 27 gender budgets carried out in 4 Italian regions, 6 provinces, 1 union of municipalities, and 16 municipalities. Currently, available evidence suggests the need to public authorities to go further than the sporadic implementation of gender budgeting, systematizing a gender-based analysis, and a gender equality-oriented evaluation with regard to the distribution of resources and the explanation of budgets.
As a powerful means of theory building, conceptual articles are increasingly called for in marketing academia. However, researchers struggle to design and write non-empirical articles because of the lack of commonly accepted templates to guide their development. The aim of this paper is to highlight methodological considerations for conceptual papers: it is argued that such papers must be grounded in a clear research design, and that the choice of theories and their role in the analysis must be explicated and justified. The paper discusses four potential templates for conceptual papers – Theory Synthesis, Theory Adaptation, Typology, and Model – and their respective aims, approach for using theories, and contribution potential. Supported by illustrative examples, these templates codify some of the tacit knowledge that underpins the design of non-empirical papers and will be of use to anyone undertaking, supervising, or reviewing conceptual research.
Despite great potential, high hopes and big promises, the actual impact of big data on the public sector is not always as transformative as the literature would suggest. In this paper, we ascribe this predicament to an overly strong emphasis the current literature places on technical-rational factors at the expense of political decision-making factors. We express these two different emphases as two archetypical narratives and use those to illustrate that some political decision-making factors should be taken seriously by critiquing some of the core ‘techno-optimist’ tenets from a more ‘policy-pessimist’ angle. In the conclusion we have these two narratives meet ‘eye-to-eye’, facilitating a more systematized interrogation of big data promises and shortcomings in further research, paying appropriate attention to both technical-rational and political decision-making factors. We finish by offering a realist rejoinder of these two narratives, allowing for more context-specific scrutiny and balancing both technical-rational and political decision-making concerns, resulting in more realistic expectations about using big data for policymaking in practice.
Contemporary democratic experiments are frequently conducted at the local level in order to best include citizens in the decision-making process while responding to emerging sociopolitical crises. This paradigm was implemented in Medellin, Colombia, to combat the omnipresent violence and ongoing marginalization of whole urban sectors due to the current political crisis, after social movements demanded innovative solutions that would not merely replicate the traditional way of doing politics. The result was widespread community participation, strengthened by methods of participatory democracy such as participatory planning and participatory budgeting. The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of these tools on individuals within the community. The focus is particularly on women, who experience multiple forms of exclusion, both as citizens of the urban governance and as individuals traditionally ascribed to the private, domestic sphere. I analyzed trajectories of women’s lives and participation to answer the question of how participation in processes of participatory democracy at the local level may contribute to empowerment.
The design of smart cities, like urban planning, is a wicked problem. Cities have diverse stakeholders with complex interrelationships and conflicting interests which means that it can be difficult to gain a representative consensus on city design. Typically, few of a city’s stakeholders are involved in smart city design. This means that the needs of some stakeholders can be underrepresented. This non-participatory approach is in opposition to what urban planning suggests which leads to sustainable communities. This chapter identifies a participatory approach to the development of an information system to support smart city design. In businesses, enterprise architecture (EA) frameworks are used to link their needs to their information systems. EA frameworks link the operational goals of an enterprise to, among other things, its information systems. Current approaches to smart cities are framed by corporate narratives. This could mean that if the smart city design tools are developed in a standard EA approach, the needs of those that procure and provide the service will be considered above others, for example, the interests of citizens. Therefore, this research proposes a ‘community’ architecture framework (CAF) and development methodology that can support diverse stakeholder requirements and perspectives. Smart cities are not only wicked problems, but they also represent large spatial, temporal and populational scales. In the light of this, the CAF is tested on a smaller scale in a ‘real’ city planning context in Chelmsford, UK. This chapter then discusses how this could be used to support the participation of diverse stakeholders in smart city planning.
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
This paper examines how variations in the notion of public sector consumerism become embedded in diverse governance practices. To this end, we extend the literature on public governance logics with insights from research on public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms. Through a comparative, multi-level analysis we trace the development of two governance logics largely corresponding to the distinction between New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG) in Swedish transport infrastructure policy. In contrast to research predicting or prescribing a relatively radical shift between such governance logics we show how they partly co-evolved along two reform paths entailing notable variations in the degree of hybridization and the embedding of consumerist notions in emerging governance practices. In doing so, we draw attention to how the hybridization of governance logics is contingent on the alignment of diverse interests and differences in the process through which such logics are brought together. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research into public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms.
As the tasks of the state have become more complex and the size of polities larger and more heterogeneous, the institutional forms of liberal democracy developed in the nineteenth century—representative democracy plus techno- bureaucratic administration—seem increasingly ill suited to the novel problems we face in the twenty-first century. "Democracy" as a way of organizing the state has come to be narrowly identified with territorially based competitive elections of political leadership for legislative and executive offices. Yet, increasingly, this mechanism of political representation seems ineffective in accomplishing the central ideals of democratic politics: facilitating active political involvement of the citizenry, forging political consensus through dialogue, devising and imple- menting public policies that ground a productive economy and healthy society, and, in more radical egalitarian versions of the democratic ideal, ensuring that all citizens benefit from the nation's wealth. The Right of the political spectrum has taken advantage of this apparent decline in the effectiveness of democratic institutions to escalate its attack on the very idea of the affirmative state. The only way the state can play a competent and constructive role, the Right typically argues, is to dramatically reduce the scope and depth of its activities. In addition to the traditional moral opposition of liber- tarians to the activist state on the grounds that it infringes on property rights and
This article presents an analytical platform for discussing and analyzing administrative reforms in terms of democracy. First, we present the democratic theory positions represented by output democracy and input democracy. These two positions are used to classify different types of reform. The second explanatory approach on democracy and reforms is transformative, and it applies a mixture of external features, domestic administrative culture, and polity features to understand variations in the democratic aspects of public sector reforms. Central issues are whether these reforms can be seen as alternatives or whether they complement each other in terms of layering processes. Third, we take a broad overview of New Public Management (NPM) and post-NPM reforms and carry out an in-depth analysis of a new administrative policy report by the Norwegian centre-left government. Finally, we discuss briefly the broader comparative implications of our findings.
A government's budget represents a statement of its priorities. During the past 25 years, the international community has recognized that gender equality is essential for sustainable economic growth and full social development, and it has called upon nations to use their budgets to promote genderequitable resource allocation and revenue generation. More than 60 countries have answered this call by implementing gender-responsive budgets at the national and subnational levels. However, gender-responsive budgeting is virtually unheard of among public finance scholars and U.S. public administration scholars and practitioners. Here we define gender-responsive budgeting, discuss the need for it, describe the lessons learned, and discuss its potential as a budget reform. We hope our commentary will bring gender-responsive budgeting into the mainstream of research in the U.S. public administration community and into the practice of government budgeting.
Abstract Feminist studies have developed several tools to assess the gender impact of public policy and of budgets in particular. In this paper we introduce an innovative approach to the gender auditing of public budgets inspired by the capability approach. First, we expand the scope of the assessment of the policy impact taking into account women’s multidimensional well‐being and the contribution of their unpaid work to other people’s well‐being. Second, we use a macro‐economic feminist perspective to make the capability approach operational in the policy space. Within this extended reproductive approach, gender budgets could become a tool for advancing a reflection on social and individual well‐being and for greater transparency on the gender division of labor, the distribution of resources and the share of individual and public responsibilities.
The evolution of the New Public Management movement has increased pressure on state bureaucracies to become more responsive to citizens as clients. Without a doubt, this is an important advance in contemporary public administration, which finds itself struggling in an ultradynamic marketplace. However, together with such a welcome change in theory building and in practical culture reconstruction, modern societies still confront a growth in citizens’ passivism; they tend to favor the easy chair of the customer over the sweat and turmoil of participatory involvement. This article has two primary goals: First to establish a theoretically and empirically grounded criticism of the current state of new managerialism, which obscures the significance of citizen action and participation through overstressing the (important) idea of responsiveness. Second, the article proposes some guidelines for the future development of the discipline. This progress is toward enhanced collaboration and partnership among governance and public administration agencies, citizens, and other social players such as the media, academia, and the private and third sectors. The article concludes that, despite the fact that citizens are formal “owners” of the state, ownership will remain a symbolic banner for the governance and public administration–citizen relationship in a representative democracy. The alternative interaction of movement between responsiveness and collaboration is more realistic for the years ahead.
Purpose
In the New Public Governance (NPG) paradigm, citizens play a vital role in the decision-making of public organisations and are fundamental to aligning their expectations with service delivery. Citizen engagement could be realised in the budgeting process by adopting participatory budgeting (PB) even if previous literature on PB does not focus on this tool design issue. Therefore, this study aims to understand which PB institutional design arrangements help enhance citizen participation.
Design/methodology/approach
A deductive content analysis and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis were carried out on the PB regulations of 100 Italian municipalities.
Findings
The results suggest that the PB design can be elaborated in different ways that do not always guarantee the involvement of citizens. Virtuous municipalities engage citizens from the start of the process and in the most relevant discussion and deliberation phases. A simple legislative provision does not guarantee a real introduction of participatory governance.
Originality/value
This study theorises citizen participation in PB and examines it through empirical evidence to define relationships between PB design arrangements and citizen engagement.
The wellbeing approach to gender budgeting enables accounting for quality of life in terms of accessibility. Social inclusion of vulnerable groups, especially women, is the main concern of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and its achievement is conditional upon related local government policy because local governments are the closest to citizens. Focusing on localization of the SDG 5 and SDG 11 and on two capabilities (mobility and safety), this article proposes a framework of wellbeing gender budgeting and illustrates it with matrices for 2016–2019 for three cities at different stages of development in Turkey. The article discusses the need for policy
consistency and data availability, and the funding requirements necessary for achieving SDGs in developing countries.
This paper discusses issues in designing deliberative digital habitats. It identifies three dimensions that define them: the gemeinschaft dimension, the gesellschaft dimension, and the technology dimension, the latter with four different spaces. While not a how-to manual, this conceptual framework, rooted in both existing literature and field experimentation, should prove helpful to digital democracy designers, either for public institutions or grassroots movements. As a contribution to the growing body of scholarship on online deliberation, it organizes critical issues so that they will not be overlooked. Examples from field cases illustrate such issues.
Gender budgeting needs to become institutionalized more strongly in our societies and public policies. The article suggests some of the possible challenges to be taken into consideration to make it ‘work’, including availability of technical capacities and data, securing support in the political agenda, involving stakeholders, balancing spontaneity and standardization, and considering wider sources of inequality. IMPACT: Gender budgeting has an important unexploited potential. However, much more needs to be done for it to become institutionalized. A stronger commitment by practitioners, policy-maker and scholars is needed. This article suggests possible conditions to make it work. © 2019
Purpose
Participatory budgeting (PB) is considered a suitable tool for supporting and promoting citizen engagement in government work. Previous studies of PB have deeply investigated its design and effects, but paid little attention to the underlying logics of adopting and implementing PB. The purpose of this paper is to, accordingly, investigate the development over time of the institutional logics of PB and attempt to explain their effect on PB.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a longitudinal multiple case study design, this research analyzes the evolution of institutional logics over time and across five municipalities in Italy. The analysis integrates documents with interviews conducted at two times to investigate the evolution of PB logics.
Findings
The development of PB is characterized by the spread of two emerging logics—i.e. managerial and community-building logics—that replace or coexist with the traditional political logic. Indeed, these different logics can coexist within governments, with different degrees of conflict or coexistence, resulting in what can be considered a hybrid logic.
Research limitations/implications
Although the number of examined cases is limited, this research elaborates an original conceptual approach and provides new insights that could help in better designing and implementing PB.
Originality/value
This research builds knowledge of PB by shedding light on its different logics, linking them to diverse specific models of PB and exploring their changes over time.
Offering an overview of distinctive methodological developments in gender budgeting (GB) and analysis of budget and public policy processes, this chapter discusses various approaches. It introduces examples of different applied and emerging methods for practical adoption and implementation of GB. While clearly visible conditions for the adoption and implementation of GB can be identified and characterised, sustaining gender analysis across the policy and budgetary process presents enduring challenges. This chapter sets out methodologies for attempting gender-responsive budgets and the various approaches adopted in divergent contexts.
Previous research has highlighted that there is a lack of advanced technological solutions able to foster government- citizens collaboration. We argue that many examples of digital participatory platforms are already available and also ready to use for governments and citizens. Hence, causes for ineffective citizen engagement and collaboration with local government should not be sought in the lack of advanced technology. Thus, we
focus on the issues and challenges that local governments face in fostering online and offline citizen engagement. We also provide a classification of challenges into six categories as a prerequisite to identifying actions and solutions for local governments.
This unique book focuses on the hybridization of grassroots participation in planning, implementing, and developing gender-responsive budgeting. It explores the possibilities for gender sensitive budgeting when implemented using techniques that have been popularized by participatory governance activists. A combination of the two allows for a whole new way of ensuring public budgets are used equitably.
Legitimacy is a problem of contemporary governance. Communities lack trust in elected officials—in their effectiveness, fairness, and representation of the public interest. Participatory budgeting (PB)—a set of democratic processes where residents determine how to spend a public budget—helps bridge that distance by letting the public make spending decisions. Since 2011, some of New York City’s (NYC) council members have been implementing PB with their capital budget—setting aside a million dollars in their districts each budget cycle for PB. Participatory budgeting has the potential to rebuild relationships between government and communities. Using data from over eighty interviews conducted by New York University (NYU) graduate students in 2013 and 2014 with PBNYC participants over two years, this article suggests that in council districts using PB, residents have greater feelings of access to and voice in local government, and better understanding of the complexities of spending public monies, often leading to a more positive view of government officials, and bolstering legitimacy of local government.
his book provides an in-depth comparative analysis of inequality and the stratification of the digital sphere.
Grounded in classical sociological theories of inequality, as well as empirical evidence, this book defines ‘the digital divide’ as the unequal access and utility of internet communications technologies and explores how it has the potential to replicate existing social inequalities, as well as create new forms of stratification. The Digital Divide examines how various demographic and socio-economic factors including income, education, age and gender, as well as infrastructure, products and services affect how the internet is used and accessed. Comprised of six parts, the first section examines theories of the digital divide, and then looks in turn at:
•Highly developed nations and regions (including the USA, the EU and Japan);
•Emerging large powers (Brazil, China, India, Russia);
•Eastern European countries (Estonia, Romania, Serbia);
•Arab and Middle Eastern nations (Egypt, Iran, Israel);
•Under-studied areas (East and Central Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa).
Providingan interwoven analysis of the international inequalities in internet usage and access, this important work offers a comprehensive approach to studying the digital divide around the globe. It is an important resource for academic and students in sociology, social policy, communication studies, media studies and all those interested in the questions and issues around social inequality.
Participatory budgeting (PB) is an innovative democratic practice that consists of giving citizens in a local community the power to identify spending priorities, put forth and develop concrete proposals, finalize them into feasible projects, and select which projects are worth financing and implementing. It gained attention for its capacity to include people in policymaking at the urban level. Begun as a face-to-face participatory process, PB today is shaped by ICT that combines online and offline participation venues. This chapter presents this new wave of “hybrid” PB and analyzes citizen participation data from nine recent Italian case studies in six municipalities that have benefited from a Web platform specifically developed for PB processes.
This chapter examines the links between participatory budgeting and gender budgeting discourses, analysing similarities, differences and tensions. What can actors involved in participatory processes
learn from a gender discourse, and what can actors working to achieve gender equality
learn from discourses on participation? Assuming the main objectives of gender responsive budgeting are gender equality, greater transparency, empowerment of disempowered social groups and more effective budgeting, this chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities for social change in these processes in light of the German experience.
Budgeting has for too long been considered a technical arena for highly skilled elites. Participatory Budgeting (PB)
opens up the field and creates a space for local communities to discuss the equitable distribution of resources. However, gender has not been at the forefront of the PB debate. On the other hand, gender responsive budgeting has had its own growth trajectory, often not including participatory methods. The chapter highlights possible intersections between PB and gender mainstreaming and notes PB’s potential in addressing issues of gender mainstreaming and social justice, following dialogues
with other complementary democratic innovations.
This publication presents an analysis of the social science literature on governance. It puts forth the core concepts and knowledge that have evolved in the study of governance in different levels and arenas of politics and policymaking. In so doing, it establishes itself as the essential point of reference for all those studying politics, society, and economics from a governance perspective. The volume comprises fifty-two articles from leaders in the field. These articles are organized into nine sections dealing with topics that include governance as the reform of the state, democratic governance, European governance, and global governance.
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to consider “equality mainstreaming” as an international policy and to explore some of the implications this raises for public management.
Design/Methodology/Approach – The methodology is based on literature review looking at the way gender mainstreaming practices have developed a wider application to equality mainstreaming. Examining the relationship between mainstreaming and evidence-based management, it comments on the challenges this poses for public management.
Findings – Equality mainstreaming and its implications have been largely absent from public management discourse despite the growth of equality mainstreaming in international policy.
Research limitations/Implications – Research in public management should address mainstreaming and its potential for social change.
Practical implications – This chapter brings this issue to the forefront in an effort to engage academics and public managers.
Social implications – This chapter raises theoretical questions about mainstreaming and social change in favor of equality. It is a starting point for further research on public management as a tool for shifting organizational and societal values.
Originality/Value – The chapter provides an overview of previous literature and policy development in this area and then moves on to explore the implications of extending mainstreaming as a concept to other policy areas and examines both challenges and opportunities raised by this approach for the management of values in public services.
The overall project aims to establish a dialogue between normative democratic theory and research on policy formulation and implementation. This introductory article first notes the growth of various participatory and deliberative procedures in policy making, portrays the context of this growth and justifies the cases selected. It then presents the conceptual framework used for the study of these procedures, which mainly draws on participatory and deliberative democratic theory and the literature on the shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’. Based on this conceptual framework, the article focuses on four research questions the authors consider particularly important for the assessment of the contribution of the devices under scrutiny to democratic and effective decision making: questions of openness and access (input-legitimacy); questions regarding the quality of deliberation (throughput); questions of efficiency and effectiveness (output-legitimacy); and the issue of their insertion into the public space (questions of transparency and accountability).
The term 'governance' is popular but imprecise. It has at least six uses, referring to: the minimal state; corporate governance; the new public management; 'good governance'; socio-cybernetic systems; and self-organizing networks. I stipulate that governance refers to 'self-organizing, interorganizational networks' and argue these networks complement markets and hierarchies as governing structures for authoritatively allocating resources and exercising control and co-ordination. I defend this definition, arguing that it throws new light on recent changes in British government, most notably: hollowing out the state, the new public management, and intergovernmental manage-ment. I conclude that networks are now a pervasive feature of service delivery in Britain; that such networks are characterized by trust and mutual adjustment and undermine management reforms rooted in competition: and that they are a challenge to governability because they become autonomous and resist central guidance.
Citizen participation in government budgeting processes is a topic that has received attention for many decades. Despite prescriptive exhortations to cities, research in this area has significant limitations. We identify four elements that are believed to influence the participation process. The variables within each element have received attention in the empirical literature, but no systematic effort has been made to uncover interaction effects and extend theory to make it more robust. We consider the weaknesses of our knowledge, suggest an impact model of citizen participation in budgeting, and identify hypotheses that may be tested in future research.
This article discusses: the doctrinal content of the group of ideas known as ‘new public management’(NPM); the intellectual provenance of those ideas; explanations for their apparent persuasiveness in the 1980 s; and criticisms which have been made of the new doctrines. Particular attention is paid to the claim that NPM offers an all-purpose key to better provision of public services. This article argues that NFM has been most commonly criticized in terms of a claimed contradiction between ‘equity’ and ‘efficiency’ values, but that any critique which is to survive NPM's claim to ‘infinite reprogrammability’ must be couched in terms of possible conflicts between administrative values. The conclusion is that the ESRC'S Management in Government’ research initiative has been more valuable in helping to identify rather than to definitively answer, the key conceptual questions raised by NPM.
Participation in America represents the largest study ever conducted of the ways in which citizens participate in American political life. Sidney Verba and Norman H. Nie addresses the question of who participates in the American democratic process, how, and with what effects. They distinguish four kinds of political participation: voting, campaigning, communal activity, and interaction with a public official to achieve a personal goal. Using a national sample survey and interviews with leaders in 64 communities, the authors investigate the correlation between socioeconomic status and political participation. Recipient of the Kammerer Award (1972), Participation in America provides fundamental information about the nature of American democracy.
From skepticism to mutual support: towards a structural change in the relations between participatory budgeting and the information and communication technologies?
- G Allegretti
Allegretti G (2012) From skepticism to mutual support: towards a structural change in the relations
between participatory budgeting and the information and communication technologies?, in
Mindus P, Greppi A, Cuomo M (eds), Legitimacy 2.0: E-democracy and Public Opinion in
the Digital Age, 145-182.