We are pleased to announce our planned panels for the Annual PSA Conference, to be held on 21-23 March 2016, in Brighton. At #psa16, we will have six panels, covering a range of parliamentary and legislative issues, as well as a lunch time event, covering research impact and its relationship to Parliament. Titles and authors are listed here, but may be subject to change. We will try to add further details as and when they become available.
Lunch time event: Research Impact and Parliament
‘Research Impact and Parliament: An analysis of REF 2014 impact case studies’ by Caroline Kenny, Shanna Marrinan, Elo Luik & Samuel Murison. The event will be chaired by Cristina Leston-Bandeira (co-convener of the PSA PL Specialist Group). This will take place on Wednesday, 23 March, 12.30pm-1.30pm in the Churchill Room.
AGM
Our AGM will take place on Tuesday, 22 March at 12.30pm-1.30pm in the Grand Hotel (Consort Room). Details to follow.
Panels
Parliament and the Law: Political and Legal Perspectives
Tuesday, 22 March, 9.30am-11.00am in (the Grand) Consort Room
Chair: Mr Marc Geddes
- ‘Studying Parliament: The Practitioner Perspective’, Oonagh Gay (House of Commons)
- ‘Institutions in public law: parliamentary lawyers and their clients’, Ben Yong (University of Hull)
- ‘Evaluating the balance between Law and Politics in Parliament’, Jack Simson Caird (House of Commons)
- ‘Does the lack of legal knowledge hinder MPs?’, Louise Thompson (University of Surrey)
Further details, including abstracts and papers, available here.
Parliaments and Citizens
Tuesday, 22 March, 11.30am-12.30pm in (the Grand) Consort Room
Chair: Ms Oonagh Gay
- ‘The right to petition and the reinforcement of representative democracy’, David Lowe
- ‘The public’s view on public reading stage’, Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds) and Louise Thompson (University of Surrey)
- ‘Digital Communication between the Represented and the Representatives: the case of www.WriteToThem.com’, Hartwig Pautz (University of the West of Scotland) and Stephen Elstub (Newcastle University)
Further details, including abstracts and papers, available here.
Parliaments and Policy
Tuesday, 22 March, 1.30pm-3.oopm in (the Grand) Consort Room
Chair: Dr Jack Simson Caird
- ‘The strong and slow boring of hard boards: the art of government and politics – an insider’s view’, Tony McNulty (Queen Mary University of London)
- ‘The Digital Agenda Committee of the German Bundestag: a Pyrrhic victory for the institutionalisation of internet policy?’, Julia Schwanholz (Department of Political Science, University of Goettingen, Germany) and Tobias Jakobi (Department of Political Science, University of Goettingen, Germany)
- ‘Legislative viscosity revisited’, Steven MacGregor (University of Aberdeen)
- ‘The shifting landscape of prime ministerial accountability to parliament: an analysis of Liaison Committee scrutiny sessions’, Alexandra Kelso (Southampton), Mark Bennister (Christ Church) and Phil Larkin (Canberra)
Further details, including abstracts and papers, forthcoming.
Parliaments and Representation
Tuesday, 22 March, 3.30pm-5pm in (the Grand) Consort Room
Chair: Dr Mark Shephard
- ‘Where to From Here? The Hereditary Peers in the House of Lords’, Richard Reid (Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra)
- ‘Do Regional Parties make National Legislature more Representative? A Study Indian Parliament’, Manisha Madhava (SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, India)
- ‘Do Electoral Rules Influence Small Parties’ Policy Strategies? Assessing Green Party Attention to Localized Issues’, Cory Belden (University of California, Davis)
Further details, including abstracts and papers, available here.
Scrutiny and Accountability in the UK Parliament
Wednesday, 23 March, 9.00am-10.30am in the Edinburgh Room
Chair: Dr Louise Thompson
- ‘Taking Evidence: The role of witnesses in the evidence gathering process of select committees in the UK House of Commons’, Marc Geddes (The University of Sheffield)
- ‘Select Committee Membership, Pre-Parliamentary Backgrounds and Parliamentary Careers: A Quantitative Analysis of House of Commons Select Committee Membership, 1979-2016’, Stephen Bates (University of Birmingham) and Mark Goodwin (University of Birmingham )
- ‘Pre-Legislative Scrutiny in the 2010-2015 Parliament: Impact, constraints and opportunities’, Jessica Mulley (House of Commons) and Richard Kelly (House of Commons)
- ‘Ending ‘Punch and Judy’ Politics? The State of Questions and Counter-Questioning during PMQs at Westminster’, Mark Shephard (University of Strathclyde)
Further details, including abstracts and papers, available here.
Comparative Parliaments
Wednesday, 23 March, 9.ooam-10.30am in the Ambassador Room
Chair: Prof. Cristina Leston Bandeira
- ‘Troubled coalition governments? Voting unity of governmental PPGs in the Czech Republic and Slovakia’, Martin Kuta and Jan Nemec (University of Economics, Prague)
- ‘The British House of Lords and the Australian Senate: The hope of true representative democracy?’, Richard Reid (Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra)
- ‘Measuring parliamentary impact in the legislative process’, Steven MacGregor (University of Aberdeen)
Further details, including abstracts and papers, available here.
