Skip to main content
Log in

A framework for participatory budget elaboration support

  • Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the Operational Research Society

Abstract

Participatory budgets are becoming increasingly popular in many municipalities all around the world. The underlying idea is to allow citizens to participate in the allocation of a municipal budget. Little decision support methodology is used in this type of activities, frequently based on physical meetings and some kind of voting mechanism. We describe models and methods to support the elaboration of a participatory budget. We model this problem as one of resource allocation, in which citizens attempt to maximize group satisfaction in view of multiple criteria, subject to, possibly, other constraints. Based on a negotiation approach, we propose a general methodology to deal with such a problem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abers R (1998). From clientelism to cooperation: Local government, participatory policy, and civic organizing in Porto Alegre Brazil. Pol Soc 26: 511–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abers R (1999). Practicing radical democracy: Lessons from Brazil. Plurimondi 1: 67–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baierle S (2004). The case of Porto Alegre: The politics and background. In: Roussopoulos D. and Benello C.G. (eds). Participatory Democracy: Prospects for Democratizing Democracy. Black Rose Books: Montreal, pp. 270–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brams SJ and Fishburn PC (1978). Approval Voting. Am Pol Sci Rev 72: 831–847.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brams SJ and Fishburn PC (2002). Voting Procedures. In: Arrow K., Sen A. and Suzumura K. (eds). Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare. Elsevier Science: Amsterdam, pp. 175–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Sousa Santos B (1998). Participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre: Toward a redistributive democracy. Pol Soc 26: 461–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French S (1986). Decision Theory. An Introduction to the Mathematics of Rationality. Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Getafe's manual (2005). Participatory budget regulations of Getafe. http://www.getafe.es/PREPARTI/PREPARTI.home, accessed 20 May 2007.

  • Golabi K (1987). Selecting a group of dissimilar projects for funding. IEEE Trans Eng Mngt 34: 138–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jelassi MT and Foroughi A (1989). Negotiation support systems: An overview of design issues and existing software. Decis Supp Syst 5: 167–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalai E and Smorodinsky M (1975). Other solutions to Nash's bargaining problem. Econometrica 43: 513–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraemer KL and King JL (1988). Computer-based systems for cooperative work and group decision making. ACM Comput Sur 20: 115–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latendresse A (2004). The case of Porto Alegre: The participatory budget. In: Roussopoulos D. and Benello C.G. (eds). Participatory Democracy: Prospects for Democratizing Democracy. Black Rose Books: Montreal, pp. 287–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberherr F (2003). Participatory budgets: A tool for participatory democracy. Urban News No 7. www.caledonia.org.uk/budgets.htm, accessed 20 May 2007.

  • Liesiö J, Mild P and Salo A (2007). Preference programming for robust portfolio modeling and project selection. Eur J Opl Res 181: 1488–1505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marriott K and Stuckey PJ (1998). Programming with Constraints: An Introduction. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martello S and Toth P (1990). Knapsack Problems. Algorithms and Computer Implementations. John Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nash JF (1950). The bargaining problem. Econometrica 18: 155–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nylen WR (2003). Participatory Democracy Versus Elitist Democracy: Lessons from Brazil. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pinsonneault A and Kraemer KL (1990). The effects of electronic meetings on group processes and outcomes. Eur J Opl Res 46: 143–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raiffa H (2002). Negotiation Analysis. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rios J (2006). Supporting group Decision through the Web: e-democracy and e-participatory Budgets. PhD thesis, Rey Juan Carlos University..

  • Rios J, Rios Insua D and Kim JB (2005). Arbitration and mediation schemes: Balanced increment and balanced concession. Technical Report, Rey Juan Carlos University..

  • Rios Insua D, Holgado J and Moreno R (2004). An e-negotiation system to support edemocracy. J Multicrit Decis Anal 12: 213–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Souza CU (2001). Participatory budgeting in Brazilian cities: Limits and possibilities in building democratic institutions. Environ Urban 13: 159–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stummer C and Heidenberger K (2003). Interactive R&D portfolio analysis with project interdependencies and time profiles of multiple objectives. IEEE Trans Eng Mngt 50: 175–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson W (1994). Cooperative models of bargaining. In: Aumann R.J. and Hart S. (eds). Handbook of Game Theory Vol. II. Elsevier Science Publisher: North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 1238–1277.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN-HABITAT (2004). 72 Frequently asked questions about participatory budgeting. Urban Governance Toolkit Series. http://staging.unchs.org/campaigns/governance/documents/FAQPP.pdf, accessed 20 May 2007.

  • Virapatirin M and Peixoto T (2006). The white book on local e-democracy. http://www.forum-edemo.org/IMG/pdf/livre_Blanc_Anglais.pdf, accessed 20 May 2007.

  • Wampler B (2000). A guide to participatory budgeting. The International Budget Project. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. www.internationalbudget.org/resources/library/GPB.pdf, accessed 20 May 2007.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Research supported by the ESF-TED programme, the Decision Engineering Lab (URJC-DMR Consulting Foundation) and projects from URJC, MEC and CAM (Edemocracia-CM).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J Rios.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rios, J., Rios Insua, D. A framework for participatory budget elaboration support. J Oper Res Soc 59, 203–212 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602501

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602501

Keywords

Navigation