ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the tension between the need for responsiveness and accountability and the need for technical expertise manifests itself and gets resolved in the public budgeting process. It examines four foundational elements critical to understanding why the budgetary process works the way it does. These elements consist of: the historical pattern of governmental budget development in the United States, the competing purposes served by a public budget, the government budget cycle and its impact on the behavior of its participants, and the conflicting perspectives of the budget actors. The chapter offers some final reflections on how the governmental budgeting process and the roles of its participants contribute to the overall functioning of our systems of democratic governance. The budgeting process is an opportunity to test a government’s responsiveness to community desires; the budgeting process for non-profits tests responsiveness to a blend of community needs and donor priorities.
