Participatory citizenship in the making? The multiple citizenship trajectories of participatory budgeting participants in Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACTMost scholarship on participatory budgeting (PB) has highlighted its impact on democratic processes and redistributive outcomes, but there is also an implicit argument associating it with citizenship learning processes at the individual and collective levels. As a mechanism for social interactions, it is often called a ‘school of citizenship’ nurturing the development of ‘better citizens’ who participate as agents and members of a political community. This relation is, however, more ambiguous in practice. The article looks at this relationship and at the rise of so-called participatory democratic citizenship. Drawing from surveys conducted among PB participants in two Brazilian cities in 2009 (Porto Alegre) and 2014 (Belo Horizonte), the article shows that, at the individual level, multiple trajectories of citizenship can emerge among participants and can coexist in participatory processes. Contrary to the common wisdom, the article brings to light the complexity of differentiated citizenship learning processes among individuals active in participatory mechanisms. These cases thus show that PB does not necessarily contribute to the creation of a civic community, that is, a durable and active form of social organization that fosters the rise of a participatory and democratic citizenship.