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Brian Wampler, professor of political science, gave a talk at the University of Texas at Austin titled “Regenerating Democracy in Brazil: Popular Participation, Interlocking Institutions, and Social Justice.” The talk focused on the city of Belo Horizonte, where five successive mayoral administrations were committed to democratic reform.
Original source: Boise State University Update Your source for campus news
Mike Touchton and Brian Wampler, professors of political science, were selected winners of the LAPIS 2013 Best Paper Award for their coauthored paper “Improving Social Well-Being through New Democratic Institutions,” which they presented at the LASA 2012 Congress.
“This paper asks important questions about how participatory budgeting affects citizens’ well-being. Using an original and a large N data base of Brazilian municipalities, the authors show that the situation of the poor is improved through an increase in spending on health care and sanitation, which is reflected in a reduction in the rates of child mortality. The effect grows with time and when the political party implementing the participatory budget believes in its principles. Interestingly, the authors claim that in contrast to the theorized bias in representative democracy towards middle and upper class groups, the new institution of participatory budgeting, can help overcome this bias and benefit the poor. Thus, this paper makes an important contribution to our knowledge about the social and political consequences of participatory budgeting, one that will inform normative as well as empirical debates about participatory democracy.”
Wampler also is a featured speaker at the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation’s bi-annual conference on Oct. 12-14 in Seattle, Wash.
Original post found at the Boise State UPDATE site.
Brian Wampler has been invited to make a presentation at the international Open Government Partnership (OGP) annual conference to be held April 17-18 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Last year seven governments, led by the United States and Brazil, initiated the OGP in an effort to encourage national governments to be more transparent and accountable. This effort is being developed in conjunction with NGOs and other civil society organizations. More than 30 countries are sending official delegations to the annual conference.
For more details, visit www.opengovpartnership.org/Brasilia2012.
This article originally posted in UPDATE.
Brian Wampler, Department of Political Science, was invited by the the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Johannesburg, South Africa, to give a talk on citizen participation in policymaking. The talk on March 1 will be given to 300 elected officials and civil society leaders from South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
This article was originally posted on UPDATE.
