Almost 40 years ago, New Public Management theorists reserved an increasingly important role for
citizens and civil society in the policy making process. This trend continued afterwards with
proponents of Digital Era Governance or New Public Service theories. But without the opportunity
of taking decisions on how to spend at least some parts of the government money, the influence of
citizens and NGOs is fairly limited.
Local governments, as the institutions closer to the needs and wishes of the communities, have
gradually taken note of the increasing clamor for more power and transparency. Participatory
budgeting processes have sprung up all over the world in the last years. Romania is no exception; a
number of cities have implemented platforms that allow their citizens to propose and vote on projects
to improve the quality of life in their communities.
Our research will try to ascertain the level of success such initiatives have in Romania, a country
with a generally low level of civic engagement. For this, we will use questionnaires and interviews
with public servants in charge of these platforms.