Welcome to our special conference newsletter, jam packed with panels and events for you to enjoy during your trip to Glasgow for the Political Studies Association Conference. We will be hosting six excellent panels, sponsoring a roundtable on ‘Designing for Democracy’ and of course, there will be a specialist group AGM where we will be discussing our plans for the coming year.
See below for a more detailed timetable of each of these events,
plus our specialist group drinks on the evening of Monday 10 April. We’d love to see you all there. This will also be a good opportunity to get to know our new SG team! We’ve also highlighted a couple of other panels which we think will be of interest to members (and which contain expert members of our group!).
We look forward to seeing you all there!
Best wishes,
Marc (@marcgeddes), Louise (@LouiseVThompson), Alex (@A_Meakin) and Leanne (@LeanneMarieC)
Monday, 10 April: Panels
9:30-11:00: Understanding the Legislative Process: Formal and Informal Mechanisms (Room: McCance 3.03)
Chair: John Moorcraft (Queen Mary University)
- Thomas Caygill (Newcastle University) Into the Unknown: Accounting for the Recommendations and Government Acceptance of Post-Legislative Scrutiny in the UK Parliament
- Tony McNulty (Queen Mary University of London) The Ghosts in the Machine: Anatomy of a Bill and the Hidden Dimensions of Parliamentary Scrutiny
- Nick Or (University of Southampton) Effect of Democratization and Party Fragmentation on Legislative Speed: Evidence from Hong Kong Legislative Bills
- Dr Paul Thomas (Carleton University) Cooperation without consequence? A review of participation in All-Party Parliamentary Groups by members of the House of Lords versus members of the House of Commons
14:15-15:45: Connecting Parliaments with the Public: Approval, Participation and Engagement (Room: McCance 3.03)
Chair: Marc Geddes (Edinburgh)
- Dr Carlos Shenga (Centre for Research on Governance and Development) Public Approval of Legislator’s Job Performance in Africa
- Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds), Dr Viktoria Spaiser (University of Leeds), Molly Asher (Leeds Institute for Data Analytics) What does the digital footprint of the House of Commons’ e-Petitions tell us about public engagement?
- Alex Prior (The University of Leeds) “This infinite variety of forms”: how Parliament, and political science, can better understand and encourage political engagement through the use of narratives
- Isabele Mitozo (Federal University of Parana) How can political systems influence post-electoral participation encouraged by parliaments? A case study of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies’ and the British House of Commons’ projects
16:15-17:45: Perspectives on Legislators and Legislation (Room: McCance 3.03)
Chair: Dr Louise Thompson (University of Surrey)
- Dr David Parker (Montana State University), Ms Courtney Kellogg (Montana State University) Crafting a Reputation for Constituent Service: The Utilization of MP Expenses and Allowances to Create Citizen Impressions
- David Alexander (University of Glasgow) How do Parliamentary Committees Establish Legislative Influence? ‘Expertise’, ‘Turnover’ and ‘New Blood’ in the European Parliament
- Rebecca McKee (University of Manchester) Who else speaks for ethnic minorities in Parliament? Critical Actors and the representation of ethnic minorities in the UK Parliament
- Ruth Dixon (University of Oxford) Mapping Mutations in Legislation: a Bioinformatics Approach
18.00 onwards: informal drinks at the Beer Café (Merchant Square)
Join the SG team for informal drinks at the Beer Café (Merchant Square) to finish the first day of conference.
Just a short walk from the conference venue, it’s the perfect spot to unwind after the first day of panels.
We look forward to seeing you there – absolutely everyone welcome!
Tuesday, 11 April 2017: Panels
09:30-11:00: Parliaments and Political Behaviour (Room: McCance 3.03)
Chair: Dr Paul Thomas (Carleton University)
- Jan Nemec and Martin Kuta Let’s talk about the European Union: Content analysis of MPs oral questions on the EU-related issues in the Czech Parliament
- Alistair Clark (Newcastle University) The Parliamentary Regulation of Political Behaviour
- Louise Thompson (University of Surrey) Can third parties make an impact? The SNP in the House of Commons
- Alan Convery (University of Edinburgh) First Ministerial Accountability to the Scottish Parliament: The Impact of the Conveners’ Group
12:30-13:30 Parliaments and Legislatures AGM (Graham Hills 510)
Join us for a reflection on our events from 2016 and a look ahead to 2017 and 2018:
- What went well in 2016 and where can we improve?
- What ideas do you have for events and how can we make those happen?
- Do you have ideas for our specialist group conference later this year?
- Do you have feedback for how our group is doing generally?
13:30-15:00 Round Table – ‘Designing for Democracy’ – the role of architecture and design in parliamentary buildings (Level 1 Auditorium)
Chair: Professor Matthew Flinders (University of Sheffield)
- Dr Paul Seaward (History of Parliament Trust) The Politics of Seating Layout
- Henrik Schoenefedt (University of Kent) Participatory Design and Parliamentary Reform
- Stephen Thornton (Cardiff University) The Pop Up Parliament in the 1960s
- Sarah Childs (Bristol University) The Good Parliament
- Malcolm Fraser The Beauty of Utility in Remade Parliament
- Prof. Lord. David Blunkett (University of Sheffield) Casting Spells and Seeing Differently
- Prof. Lord. Philip Norton (University of Hull) The impact of vacating the Palace of Westminster
- Susanna Lumsden, (R&R Team Architect) The answer may not be a building
13:30-15:00: Exploring New Methods and interdisciplinary work in legislative studies (McCance 3.03)
Chair: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds)
- Professor Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey (London School of Economics), Giulio Lisi (London School of Economics ), James Sanders (London School of Economics) Words and Arguments in Parliamentary Select Committee Hearings: How do We Establish Robustness in Textual Data Analysis?
- Wang Leung Ting (London School of Economics and Political Science) Does Experience matter? The effect of pre-parliamentary careers on MPs’ participation in parliamentary debates
- Dr Paul Thomas (Carleton University) Citizens’ Attitudes Toward Legislator Independence: Experimental evidence from Canada
- Dr Peter Bull (Department of Psychology, University of York) “I quote and I am not making this up”: The role of quotations in the adversarial discourse of Prime Minister’s Questions
15:30-17:00 Committees in Parliament (McCance 3.03)
Chair: Tony McNulty (Queen Mary University of London)
- Dr Marc Geddes (University of Edinburgh) From Select Committee Outputs to Select Committee Inputs: How do select committee members, chairs and staff undertake inquiries in the UK House of Commons?
- Dr Andrew Neal (University of Edinburgh) Security as Normal Politics: The Rise Of Security In Parliamentary Committees
- Professor Sarah Childs (University of Bristol) Gendered Institutional Change: the Case of the Women and Equalities Committee in the UK Parliament
- Professor Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey (London School of Economics) Do Actions Speak Louder than Words? Nonverbal Communication in Parliamentary Oversight Committee Hearings
Other events at PSA17
The following panels may also be of interest to SG members, both taking place on Wednesday 12th April:
11:00-12:30 Parliamentary Reform (McCance 3.03):
With contributions from Fiona McLeod, Member, Commission on Parliamentary Reform, Scotland; Very Rev Dr Lorna Hood, Member, Commission on Parliamentary Reform, Scotland and Professor the Lord Norton of Louth (University of Hull)
13:30-15:00 Academic Engagement with Parliaments and Practitioners (Room: McCance 3.03)
With contributions from Stephen Imrie, Clerk Team Leader, The Scottish Parliament; Francesa McGrath, Senior Research, Scottish Parliamentary Research and Information Centre; Professor Nicola McEwen (University of Edinburgh); Professor Meg Russell (UCL); Professor the Lord Norton of Louth (University of Hull)
Recently on the blog
Our blog has been in overdrive recently! Here are the latest blogs since our last newsletter:
- ‘All Things to All People’: We Need to Understand the Personal Side of Politics James Weinberg (University of Sheffield)
- Reflections on a remarkable day in parliament (Alistair Clark, Newcastle University)
- Behind the scenes at the House of Lords Library (Matthew Purvis, House of Lords Library)
- Living the Legislature: Teaching Congressional politics through simulation (Sam Power, University of Sussex)
- Serving as a woman MP in Ethiopia: the challenges, ‘outcomes’ and beyond (Meheret Ayenew and Tsedey Mekonnen, Forum for Social Studies)
- ‘Rubbing shoulders’: an understanding of networks, relationships and everyday practices is key to parliamentary engagement (Marc Geddes, University of Edinburgh, Katharine Dommett, University of Sheffield, Brenton Prosser, Australian National University)
- Procedural Justice: A fair process for public engagement? (Catherine Bochel, University of Lincoln)
Calls for inquiries
There are two open calls for inquiries from select committees that you might be interested in:
- PACAC inquiry into the House of Lords (deadline tomorrow)
- National Assembly for Wales Commission: Expert Panel on Assembly Electoral Reform