Julien Talpin Schools of democracy. How (sometimes) ordinary citizens become competent in participatory budgeting institutions ECPR Press, Colchester, 2011.

Clearly, we cannot expect that all participatory \nprocess have individual cultural consequences \non its participants. However, some of \nthe previous literature has created too high \nexpectations regarding this issue and Julien \nTalpin’s book contributes to demolish part of \nthese expectations. This first important result \nof the book happens even if the author chooses \none particular type of process (participatory \nbudgeting) where these effects could be \nexpected and are not fully unrealistic: Some \nparticipants devote time, intellectual and \naffective energies in these processes where \nreal decisions that affect citizen’s lives are \nmade.