Democratic innovation or symbolic participation? A case study of participatory budgeting in Germany

Participatory budgeting gained renown due to its results in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre and other cities in Latin America. In contrast to this, in Germany, where participatory budgeting is the flagship of the democratic innovation debate, the effects are diffuse. For this reason, this paper provides an analysis of the possible effects of participatory budgeting in Germany. Citizen participation can only be deemed ‘democratic innovation’ if it has the potential to lead to improvements; otherwise, it is only ‘symbolic.’ With this in mind, twelve participatory budgets are analyzed during the main periods of diffusion: 1998-2004 and 2005-2008. The analytical frame consists of four dimensions: modernisation-related effects, social changes, ecological changes, and the question of empowerment. The findings show that, in contrast to other European cases, participatory budgeting in Germany has led to few changes. As explanation, the hypothesis is offered that German councillors opted irrationally for participatory budgeting without reflecting on the question of conceding power. Hence, the scope of power delegation has become an important variable for democratic innovation analyses.