This article addresses definitory problems concerning participatory budgeting (PB), the purpose being to underline the governance nature of this instrument. More specifically, considering PB as a particular type of participatory governance arrangement, it focuses on the democratic outcomes of concrete experiences. Adopting the Dahlian process-oriented concept of democracy, three Italian cases are depicted and analysed, according to four critical variables: inclusion, participation, the role of the opposition, and transparency. This enables full description of how PB affects local democracy, both positively and negatively. The article concludes by highlighting two variables that give account of the democratic implications of these practices: the role of the political leadership, and the inclusive strategy adopted. Further, it underlines three additional factors that embody what is commonly referred to as political investment in public-private partnerships: an active role for the opposition, outward communication, and effective participation. While assessing the democratic outcomes, the study highlights how the presence and maintenance of these practices are linked to the role played by civil society and the presence of administrative ties. \ud \ud Résumé \ud Cet article porte sur des problèmes de définition liés au ‘budget participatif’, l’objectif étant de souligner que cet instrument relève de la gouvernance. Plus précisément, en le présentant comme un type particulier de dispositif de gouvernance participative, l’étude s’intéresse aux résultats démocratiques d’expériences concrètes. Reprenant le processus défini par le concept de démocratie de Dahl, trois cas italiens sont présentés et analysés en fonction de quatre variables critiques: inclusion, participation, rôle de l’opposition, transparence. Il est ainsi possible de décrire précisément l’impact, tant positif que négatif, du budget participatif sur la démocratie locale. La conclusion met en avant deux variables qui rendent compte des implications démocratiques de ces pratiques: le rôle des autorités politiques et la stratégie d’inclusion adoptée. En outre, elle souligne trois autres facteurs qui traduisent ce qu’on appelle couramment l’investissement politique dans les partenariats public-privé: le rôle actif de l’opposition, une communication extérieure et une participation efficace. Tout en évaluant les résultats démocratiques, l’étude montre comment la présence et la continuité de ces pratiques sont liées au rôle de la société civile et à l’existence de connexions administratives

This article carries a broad definition of public-private concertation as a flexible form of governance that is able to overcome the distinction between network governance and participatory governance. It creates a unified framework relying on a process-related democratic approach in order to properly assess these practices in their democratic outcomes. This allows the article to fully depict how local governance arrangements affect local democracy, both positively and negatively. Drawing on four exemplary cases of urban policies developed in the Province of Milan, it highlights two variables that give account of the democratic implication of these practices: the role of the political leadership and the inclusive strategy that they adopt. Moreover, it underlines four additional factors that help more democratic outcomes: presence of cognitive justification, quality of participation, active opposition, and an outward communication.

This article analyses and compares the multi-dimensional co-ordination of employment and social policies at the Italian local level, especially focusing on the policy implementation stage. It departs from developing a theoretical framework to take into account the crucial variables that might potentially impact on the co-ordination of social cohesion policies. In particular, following a neo-institutionalist approach, great emphasis is placed on the legacy of the Weberian bureaucratic model, and its implied ‘specialisation ethos’. In addition, the effect of other contextual variables, such us social capital and the rate of unemployment, are considered.\ud \ud The empirical analysis confirms the crucial impact of the specialisation ethos in preventing inter-policy co-ordination from occurring at the Italian local level, and the relevance of other contextual variables in causing policy integration within services, rather than between services

In this paper, we analyze how gender affects women's political participation. More specifically, we test the effect of gender ideology on young women's participation in political consumerism. The current literature suggests different reasons to explain the gap in political participation between men and women, most importantly focusing on socio-economic resources, gender roles, and political socialization, whereas little attention has been devoted to the individual interpretation of a woman and man's own role in society. We test the effects of gender ideology on political consumerism, a form in which women participate more than men. We analyze political consumerism among young urban women, the population most likely to hold an egalitarian gender ideology. Moreover, we compare young women with different job conditions. Although the gender gap is closing or reversing in regard to specific forms of participation, such as consumerism, some inequalities remain, and our study contributes to understanding differences in participation among women themselves.

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