Articulo_1_EN_Doxa_28

The second is the aim of providing more transparent public management. With these premises, the methodology was based on four pillars: a process formalized through regulation, the application of distributive justice criteria for decision making, universal participation in public assemblies, and annual accountability by government leaders.

The Brazilian city of Porto Alegre is often cited as the pioneer in this type of consultation. In 1988, Lula Da Silva proposed participatory initiatives that allowed citizens to become involved in budgetary decisions as a way of counteracting a municipal assembly in which he did not have an elected majority. The Porto Alegre proposal is organized at three levels: neighbourhoods, districts and the municipal council. The decisions of Porto Alegre have been incorporated into the ideals of participation as a reference of neighbourhood political action that has direct consequences on the life of the city. Since then, studies on citizen participation in local political processes have multiplied. These are seen as milestones in the improvement of democratic quality and as transformation factors of public management (Michels and De Graaf, 2017). However, many authors conclude that there is no direct correlation between participation and overall institutional improvement. The degree of success should be measured by specific results and not by radical institutional changes. Artificial barriers to prevent participation from obtaining conclusive results are of a different nature, as these include clientelism and the inability to deliberate in public (Pierce, 2010). Bright and Margetts (2016: 220) state that “poor political leadership and inadequate citizen demand play a negative role” at the crossroads of technology, democracy and participation.

Bellver (2007: 36) speaks of second-generation transparency that identifies progress in economic transparency and the social control of political activity. Thus, he points out the following:

Strategies that are top-down in nature need to be complemented with bottom-up mechanisms in order to improve government accountability. In recent years, a growing number of initiatives have been based on participation by civil society in order to strengthen accountability in the public sector. Initiatives such as participatory budgeting, administrative reform laws, social audits, citizen and community management control, and reporting programmes, are all endeavours that involve citizen monitoring of government, and can be considered “social accountability” campaigns.

For this reason, the present work considers that the participatory budget is a reflection of the performative political communication mentioned above. Participatory budgeting facilitates the improvement of relations with the citizen through a specific government programme, requires the creation of communication campaigns in the public sphere in order to stimulate participation, and establishes control mechanisms to ensure equal opportunity for all neighbours, with these being some of the main motivations (De Blasio and Selva, 2016).

2. Methodology

This study uses data from the Madrid City Council municipal website, which details public information on plenary sessions, budgets, agreements, and other keys to participation. References to the municipal census for 2016, 2017 and 2018 have also been used. The case of Madrid is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, because it is the largest municipality in Spain; secondly, because it is one of the city councils run by the political party Podemos, which is among the political parties that arose during the political and financial crisis. Finally, Podemos presents a political profile open to citizen participation,