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This chapter analyzes the way in which challenge-based learning (CBL) is conceptualized and used in a private university in Puebla, Mexico, to promote social innovation. The university has recently changed its educational model, incorporating more integrative teaching and learning methodologies. The university has considered the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the first goal to end poverty and the 10th regarding reducing inequality. These goals are relevant because the university is located in the state of Puebla, which has ranked fifth in the country (out of 32) in terms of poverty, especially in rural areas, where 58% of the population is living in poverty or extreme poverty conditions (CONEVAL, 2018). An example of a successful CBL project will be presented, showing how students have worked with their professors, community experts, and other stakeholders. In 2020, the university was recognized by the Times Higher Education World University Ranking as the number one university in Mexico to fight poverty based on the United Nations SDGs because of its CBL activities and social projects. Through these projects, students, administrators, and professors put into practice and develop different skills such as teamwork, analysis, facing new realities, innovating to design solutions to the problems in their environment, and beyond.

This study observes the organisational environment of fostering citizen participation in the context of local government. Creating systems of influential citizen participation requires the consideration of organisational prerequisites. This study asks which organisational elements contribute to successful citizen participation in local government.

The data consist of interviews with 14 key actors who work for the city of Helsinki. The interview content was subjected to abductive content analysis and reflected in the analytical framework based on previous literature on citizen participation. The analysis complements and adds insights to the existing literature.

This study illuminates three crucial elements of influential citizen participation: organisational structures, organisational culture and adequate resources. Additionally, the results revealed management to be a crucial enabling element. The findings highlight the importance of seeing citizen participation as an issue of governance and as a systemic part of the administration requiring intentional management efforts.

The study illustrates the key elements (structures, culture and resources) that should be considered when creating an influential citizen participation system. Additionally, the empirical analysis highlights the importance of management, which has been understudied in previous studies concerning citizen participation.

This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms behind the development of e-democracy. The contrasting cases of Italy and Hungary are selected as the case studies. With the development of new information and communication technology, more and more elements of domestic politics have been transferred to the internet-based platforms. As a response to the deep financial, economic and political crisis that Europe endured over the period 2010-2015 and as a result of the disappointment with traditional parties, new political movements and parties were created. In this paper, the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S) and the Hungarian Lehet Más a Politika (“Politics Can Be Different”) and Momentum are examined to trace the specific mechanisms that led to their establishment.

The research is based on mixed method approach, using primary and secondary data to identify and examine mechanisms conducive to the emergence of e-democracy. It uses quantitative analysis along with discourse analysis and social media analysis. The research is based on the analysis of respective parties’ social media communication. The social media analysis has been carried out by the SentiOne social listening software within the time frame of February 2018 and the end of 2019. Along different types of democracy measurements, Italy and Hungary have been analysed between 2017 and 2019.

The paper identifies the key preconditions for the emergence of e-democracy. These are freedom, gender gap, inequality and corruption. It also then elaborates on mechanisms, such as social media activity and citizen engagement, which lead to the emergence of e-democracy. The thesis of this article is that in Hungary (compared to Italy), elements of high-quality standards for a democracy are still missing to establish a successful political party which uses the sustainable concept for e-democracy. In Hungary, the examined parties use social media only as media representation without exploiting the possibilities lying in social media platforms. They mostly rely on these networking sites during elections and no strong sentiments can be identified in their communication. Italy is a more developed democracy where online platforms are used to engage citizens regularly. M5S actively communicates through these platforms, which is reflected in the amount of comments and strong social media activity even out of election period.

The originality of the paper is the social media analysis to test the use of social media in the parties’ political communication. The paper defines key factors and mechanisms concerning the establishment of e-democracy through inductive analysis of two contrasting cases. Italy and Hungary are two member states of the European Union (EU) with different development, their current preparation and situation regarding e-democracy give insights on how the quality of democracy determines their attitude towards cyber parties. While Italy being a founding member of the EU has become an established democracy, Hungary, after the transition, has developed into a new democracy.

Participatory budgeting (PB) is considered a suitable tool for supporting and promoting citizen engagement in government work. Previous studies of PB have deeply investigated its design and effects, but paid little attention to the underlying logics of adopting and implementing PB. The purpose of this paper is to, accordingly, investigate the development over time of the institutional logics of PB and attempt to explain their effect on PB.

Using a longitudinal multiple case study design, this research analyzes the evolution of institutional logics over time and across five municipalities in Italy. The analysis integrates documents with interviews conducted at two times to investigate the evolution of PB logics.

The development of PB is characterized by the spread of two emerging logics–i.e. managerial and community-building logics–that replace or coexist with the traditional political logic. Indeed, these different logics can coexist within governments, with different degrees of conflict or coexistence, resulting in what can be considered a hybrid logic.

Although the number of examined cases is limited, this research elaborates an original conceptual approach and provides new insights that could help in better designing and implementing PB.

This research builds knowledge of PB by shedding light on its different logics, linking them to diverse specific models of PB and exploring their changes over time.