1 Does Participatory Democracy Actually Deepen Democracy? Lessons from Brazil

Abstract: This article develops an analytical framework that can be utilized to demonstrate how and where participatory institutions may contribute to the deepening of democracy. The main argument in this article is that the substantial variation in the outcomes produced by participatory institutions is best explained by identifying the incentives of elected governments to delegate authority and the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to use contentious politics inside and outside of these new institutions. Participatory institutions are being advocated by the World Bank and United Nations as strategies to empower individuals, diminish corruption, and improve the quality of policy-making. This article analyzes eight cases of Brazil’s well-known Participatory Budgeting (PB) program in order to account for the wide range of outcomes produced. Two municipalities produced strong results and two other municipalities produced failed programs. Four municipalities produced PB programs with mixed, and somewhat contradictory, results. The findings suggest that failed participatory programs can have a pernicious effect on efforts to deepen democracy while the most successful programs are managing to improve the quality of local democratic processes. This is a draft currently under review. Please do not directly cite without the author’