IMPLEMENTATION OF INITIATIVE BUDGETING IN MUNICIPALITIES OF ST. PETERSBURG

Initiative budgeting is a global trend that is being implemented in many countries of the world. The popularity and prevalence of this form of citizen participation in deciding for what purposes it is better to direct budget money is explained quite simply: budgeting is an effective way of involving residents in local self-governance and territory improvement. It is generally believed that this mechanism will reduce distrust between the government and the population and will promote effective cooperation. This article presents the theoretical approaches of domestic researchers to the phenomenon of initiative budgeting, analyzes the practical experience of implementing initiative budgeting in St. Petersburg. The authors analyze the budget of St. Petersburg, present the data of an empirical, comparative study on the practices of implementing participatory budgeting in St. Petersburg and major European cities: Lisbon, Madrid and Paris. It is concluded that, despite the similarity between St. Petersburg and these cities in many respects, St. Petersburg however, St Petersburg clearly lags behind these cities in implementing and developing participatory budgeting practices. In particular, in St. Petersburg less money is allocated overall and per capita than in other European cities and there is a lower percentage of overall participation and activity of the residents as a whole. Despite the large economic potential of St. Petersburg and a fairly large population of the city, as well as significant migration flows that are characteristic of the city, in fact, the amounts allocated for the implementation of participatory budgeting are several times less than in the cities cited in the study. It is concluded that the city authorities prefer to distribute funds top-down and are very cautious and distrustful of grassroots activism.

initiative budgeting, participatory budgeting, citizen participation, territory management, territory improvement, budget process, digitalization, funds distribution, local self-governance, “Your Budget”, St. Petersburg

Pashkus V. Yu., Savelyev I. A. Implementation of initiative budgeting in municipalities of St. Petersburg. Business. Education. Law, 2023, no. 1, pp. 136—142. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2023.62.552.