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Reflections on the Speaker’s Digital Democracy Commission Report

By Cristina Leston-Bandeira

Today’s launch of the report of the Speaker’s Digital Democracy Commission (DDC) marks the end of an extraordinarily interesting year for us Commissioners. The DDC was established by the Speaker of the House of Commons to explore the potential of digital technology to support a modern and inclusive parliamentary democracy. Throughout the year we have collated evidence, listened to people and organised workshops across the whole of the country from all walks of life, as well as internationally. The Report reflects this. It shows the diversity of views we have received on many issues from the making of legislation to the language of parliament.

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In Defence of Prime Minister’s Questions

Please note that this blog piece was originally published on the Crick Centre blog on 21 January 2015, and is available here.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s suggested this week that prime minister’s questions should be abolished. Today we follow up our blogs on BBC Democracy Day by responding to Clegg’s comments. Marc Geddes, Associate Fellow of the Crick Centre disagrees with Clegg, arguing that he misunderstands how the drama of PMQs helps the public understand how politics works.

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Do Irish Voters Love Bicameralism?

By Muiris MacCarthaigh and Shane Martin

In a referendum held in October 2013, voters in the Irish Republic were given the opportunity to abolish the Irish Senate (Seanad Éireann). What was meant to have been a populist centrepiece of political reform for the governing coalition ultimately produced a surprising outcome: Irish voters, despite being heavily disillusioned with the political system and political elites, voted to retain bicameralism, albeit on a turnout of just under 40 percent and by a thin margin (51.7 voted to retain the Seanad).

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A driver’s guide to parliaments and political reform in the Arab World

By Dr Sue Griffiths and Sameer Kassam

Parliaments in the Arab world were dismissed prior to 2011 as rubber-stamps for their regimes, and afterwards as too dysfunctional to warrant serious consideration, but their stories since have reflected broader trends in those countries.

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Hardcopy or #Hashtag: Young People’s Vision for a Digital Parliament

By Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson

About eight months ago, we got together to come up with an idea for Parliament Week. We’d recently taken over as the new Co-Convenors of the Political Studies Association’s specialist group for Parliaments and Legislatures, and we thought the group should be involved with this initiative. It fit right in with our strategy of promoting the study and understanding of parliament and, most importantly, it went beyond the academic community. Eight months later we were sitting in Portcullis House in one of Parliament Week’s prime slots, waiting for The Political Studies Association (our co-organisers) to arrive, along with over 100 sixth form students!

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“A model of good practice and innovation?”: The governance of the House of Commons

By Barry Winetrobe

The recent fiasco over the appointment of a House of Commons Clerk/Chief Executive has led to the appointment of a select committee on House governance chaired by Jack Straw.  It is tasked with reviewing this complex topic, especially allocation of the most senior responsibilities currently held by the Clerk/Chief Executive, and reporting to the House by 12 January 2015.

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Monday Night’s Debate on the European Arrest Warrant will have damaged public perceptions of Parliament

A version of this piece was published on The Conversation on 11 November 2014.

By Louise Thompson

It’s not often that parliamentary procedure hits the headlines. And it’s even less often that delegated legislation does. So the debate (if you can call it that) in the House of Commons about whether the UK would opt in to various parts of European legislation was a rarity indeed.Those watching the House of Commons on Monday evening were treated to a truly confusing spectacle that may have left many disheartened with Parliament – and with democracy.

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#StudentsForDigitalDemocracy: A Summary of the Students’ Forum for the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy

By Joshua Newton

Technology and social media are often revered as a 21st Century remedy to the ills of citizen detachment from politics and to the closed and elitist nature of UK political institutions.  This was demonstrated by a recent Hansard Society Report which highlighted the central role that Parliament could play in communicating and engaging with the public. Yet with a unique organisational structure, that does not lend itself to far-reaching internal reform, the challenge of Parliament to devise and introduce a digital adaptation plan is daunting. Step-forward the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy (DDC). Launched by John Bercow last year, its aim is to explore how representative democracy can embrace technology. Having been lucky enough to contribute through a students’ forum, I will outline some of the productive ideas that are emerging out of the inquiry’s ground-breaking and inclusive nature.

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Parliament’s digital engagement through issues – a case study: Diabetes in Parliament

By David Cragg and Cristina Leston-Bandeira

Parliaments have been experimenting with public engagement initiatives for some years now. From general cultural and educational initiatives, to far more specific events. From these the main lesson has been that the public engages through issues, not politics per se. Adapting its approach to this principle, the UK parliament has recently been developing new ideas, which try to maximise the idea of engagement through issues, at the same time as using digital means for a wider communication, beyond the usual suspects. Below we present the reflections of someone involved in a recent example of this type of engagement initiative: a #ParliChat around a Westminster Hall debate on the Melbourne Declaration on Diabetes.

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What is the problem with the British political class?

By Paul Cairney

It is now commonplace in Britain to bemoan the failings of the ‘political class’. A wide selection of broadcast, print and social media commentators argue that elected politicians in the UK are not representative of their constituents. Instead, they are part of a self-referential ‘political class’ which is increasingly distant from the real world and mistrusted by the public.

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