Conflicts and paradoxes in the rhetoric of participation

ABSTRACT

The expansion of participation processes and techniques around the world in recent years takes place under the rhetoric of citizen empowerment. This rhetoric has been questioned by many scholars, who often point out the weak impact of such practices and the new games of domination to which participation is submitted. This article examines this dilemma from the expansion of participatory budgeting in the global North. We propose a study of assembly processes involving the local public administration in the cities of Chicago and Córdoba. This process reveals conflicts and paradoxes that often remain hidden in the research, but nevertheless show struggles to appropriate and define the meaning of participation.

KEYWORDS:

• Participation
• empowerment
• democracy
• Chicago
• Córdoba
• public administration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://news.psu.edu/story/312850/2014/04/23/impact/participatory-budgeting-project-selected-brown-democracy-medal.

2. Interview with Maria Jose Moruno in Cordoba, Spain, 27 April 2009.

3. Interview with Joe Moore in Providence at Brown University, US, 14 April 2011.

4. Interview with Maria Jose Moruno in Cordoba, Spain, 27 April 2009.

5. Interview with Maria Jose Moruno in Cordoba, Spain, 27 April 2009.