Deliberative democracy and trust in political institutions at the local level: evidence from participatory budgeting experiment in Ukraine

Deliberative democracy assumes that management decisions based on open voluntary and fair procedures are rational and just. This article presents arguments that deliberative democracy can bolster trust in democratic institutions. Moreover, deliberative practices can increase citizens’ level of political trust not only in stable democracies but also in hybrid regimes. This is demonstrated through an examination of participatory budgeting in Ukraine, with the use of data from a field experiment in 2015–2016 (with 740 participants).