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    A Sovereign People? Lessons from Participatory Budgeting Experiences in the UK. A study of egalitarian and elitist democratic narratives animating the practice of citizenship, and their role in determining appropriate responses to the UK democratic deficit.

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    PhD Thesis (1.704Mb)
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    Publication date
    2015
    Author
    Blakey, Heather
    Supervisor
    Pearce, Jenny V.
    Fetherston, A. Betts
    Miller, Davina
    Kelly, Ute
    Chesters, Graeme S.
    Rights
    Creative Commons License
    The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
    Institution
    University of Bradford
    Department
    Faculty of Social and International Studies, Department of Peace Studies
    Awarded
    2015
    
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    Abstract
    This study explores the UK ‘democratic deficit’ through the question of citizen democratic appetite, taking the varying degrees of citizen mobilisation in different contexts as a point of departure. The ongoing struggles between (broadly) elitist and egalitarian democratic narratives provide an analytical framework. These narratives’ underlying values and principles are illustrated through the US constitutional debates. Through this lens, the UK democratic deficit can be understood (at least partially), not as a failure of the system but as a measure of its success in containing citizen participation. The Porto Alegrean participatory budgeting experience provides a contrasting example of the egalitarian tradition which has inspired similar innovations around the world (in some cases, precisely in hopes of reinvigorating Western democracies). This study presents evidence from two such UK cases (gathered through participant observation and in-depth interviews). Newcastle’s U-Decide programme and Bradford’s ‘Decision Day’ both represent an encounter between the two narratives, and enable the values and assumptions held by citizens, elected representatives and state officials to be explored. In sum, they offer a compelling case that citizen engagement is stimulated by a more egalitarian democratic experience. However, such experiments are also shown to reflect deeply embedded ‘representative habits of mind’, which are revealed by a direct challenge to the democratic status quo. The study emphasises the value of a ‘citizen-eye’ perspective which focuses on democratic experience over outcomes, and the need for ‘democratic activists’ as well as active democrats, in order to create and defend the ideological space for democratic alternatives.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10454/14252
    Type
    Thesis
    Qualification name
    PhD
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