Knowledge Acquisition and Meaning‑making in the Participatory Budgeting of Local Governments

The participatory budgeting of Brazilian municipalities isone of the most publicized examples of democracy‑in‑action thatfosters citizenship knowledge acquisition in local government. Thisresearch adds two new perspectives to the participatory process. Thefirst one demonstrates how knowledge is acquired and shared, andwhich are the new contextual conditions for this acquisition tohappen, which we call, the knowledge acquisition process. At second,we explain the meaning‑making process as a subjective way to acquireknowledge about oneself, the others, and the democratic systems.Citizens, public servants, policy‑makers, and politicians acquirenew meanings for the role they play in local government and becomereengaged on democracy through the ontological change fromrepresentative to participatory and deliberative democracy. In thisqualitative research, our methodological bricolage relies on thetriangulation of methods (i.e. documentation review and observationsof behaviors and procedures; in‑depth‑interviews; and, focus groups)and sources (i.e. comparison of cases, and stakeholders). Thebricolage deconstructs these social actions on their constituents,vis‑a‑vis hidden intentions; instruments; and, implementation. Amongthe several Brazilian cases, this longitudinal study (i.e. 12 years)concentrates on five of them. Our findings suggest that theparticipation in the process allows for a change on individuals’understanding of democracy, enhances citizenship knowledgeacquisition, reframes the meaning of citizenship, and improves thequality of relationships among the stakeholders involved. In theparticipatory budgeting, citizens learn, what critical theory calls“to emancipate”. They act as if they were members of an idealkingdom of ends in which they were both subjects and sovereigns atthe same time, which guarantees citizenship engagement, learning anddevelopment.