On the Verge of Institutionalisation? Participatory Budgeting Evidence in Five Italian Regions

Abstract

Over the past few years, Italy has been setting the stage for different democratic innovations, especially
 those that have been implemented at municipal (or sub-municipal) level in different parts of the country.
 The expansion of Participatory Budgeting has been a remarkable one, accompanied by the diffusion of
 regional laws that were adopted to promote a culture of more intense civic participation. Moving from
 an overview of the recent diffusion of Participatory Budgeting in different areas of the country, this
 article proposes a reflection on what kind of added value the existence of this legal provision has led to
 the promotion of participation at a regional level and what this may represent. The construction of the
 Italian branch of Participatory Budgeting’s World Atlas offers an opportunity to assess legal provisions’
 contribution to the diffusion and enrootment of participatory practices, especially in smaller-scale
 municipalities. Through zooming into some cases (such as Sicily, Emilia Romagna, Apulia and Tuscany,
 or Lazio in the last few years) the authors argue that the formalisation of participatory practices into
 legal frameworks today is an important but not a sufficient factor that diffuses and enroots participatory
 culture in local territories, and that a supplement of monitoring structures and detailed studies would
 help make challenges and added values of regional law frameworks clearer.