Category: Blog

Categories
Blog

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.

Continue reading “Monday Night’s Debate on the European Arrest Warrant will have damaged public perceptions of Parliament”
Categories
Blog

#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.

Continue reading “#StudentsForDigitalDemocracy: A Summary of the Students’ Forum for the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy”
Categories
Blog

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.

Continue reading “Parliament’s digital engagement through issues – a case study: Diabetes in Parliament”
Categories
Blog

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.

Continue reading “What is the problem with the British political class?”
Categories
Blog

One Small Step for Technology, One Giant Leap for the Commons

By Louise Thompson

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow suggested in a speech last week that it “wouldn’t be so heretical” to consider whether Commons votes might in the future be taken with the help of modern technology. Housed in the nineteenth century building is an increasingly techy Parliament and a digitally aware cohort of MPs. In the last few years alone we have seen MPs tweeting directly from the chamber, parliamentary papers delivered to Members’ iPads and speeches given from tablets rather than handwritten notes.  Electronic voting then seems quite a natural progression.

Continue reading “One Small Step for Technology, One Giant Leap for the Commons”
Categories
Blog

Citizens working with lawmakers to make parliaments more open: a few examples from Brazil

By Cristiano Ferri Faria

In June 2013 the streets of Brazilian cities were taken over with protests by millions of citizens. It started as an outcry against the rise of public transportation fares. Then, many other issues came out including demands for better education and health systems. In short, citizens cried out for higher quality in public services as a whole.

Continue reading “Citizens working with lawmakers to make parliaments more open: a few examples from Brazil”
Categories
Blog

The four year itch

Please note that this blog piece was originally published in the Revolts blog on 03 June 2014, and is available here.

By Philip Cowley

We’ve been producing end-of-session reports on the behaviour of government MPs at Westminster for almost a decade.  This morning we’ve launched the report on the 2013-14 session, entitled The four year itch (and which is free to download).  It contains plenty to concern the party whips.

Continue reading “The four year itch”
Categories
Blog

Age and the politics of presence

Please note that this blog piece was originally published on the ILC-UK Blog on 25 March 2014.

By Philip Cowley

All the mainstream British political parties are – to varying degrees – now signed up to the underlying principle that political institutions should broadly reflect the social characteristics of the people they represent.  David Cameron’s very first speech as party leader in 2005 contained the claim that ‘We will change the way we look’. Ed Miliband has made several speeches on the same theme.  The idea that what Anne Phillips called ‘the politics of presence’ is important is now a widely, if not wholly, accepted part of political discourse in the UK.

Continue reading “Age and the politics of presence”
Categories
Blog

Studies of the Scottish Parliament and Constitutional Change: once favoured, now forgotten?

By Paul Cairney

The Scottish Parliament is an important focus for academic study, not least because most of the early work has produced broad brush strokes. There is still an important role for in-depth, case study based, research on particular bills, time periods, and periods of minority/ majority or single-party/ coalition rule. There is much work to be done to compare the Scottish Parliament with others, from the current focus on comparisons with Westminster and, at times, Nordic parliaments, to the well-established broader work on classifying legislatures. In each case, the new Scottish experience has something to add to ‘Westminster family’ discussions, comparisons based on similar size or functions, and studies of non-majority rule. There are also important but small literatures on the role of the Scottish Parliament as a hub for deliberative and participative democracies, and on microcosmic representation and its effect on parliamentary practices.

Continue reading “Studies of the Scottish Parliament and Constitutional Change: once favoured, now forgotten?”
Categories
Blog

Welcome to the Parliaments and Legislatures Blog

Our blog aims to promote the study and understanding of parliaments and related issues. We welcome contributions from UK and international academics or research students within the field of legislative studies and related areas. We also accept submissions from outside academia, including parliamentary practitioners, charities and other organizations working with parliament.

We accept two types of blog; short blogs discussing topical issues and longer blogs which provide an overview of a particular Parliament. All submissions should be free from unnecessary jargon and suitable for a wide audience.

If you are interested in writing for the blog please see our submission guidelines here.