parliament and public engagement: two sides of the same coin?
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Parliament and Public Engagement: two sides of the same coin?. Cristina Leston-Bandeira (ESRC – RES-000-22-4072) ECPRD, Parliaments on the net IX, May 2011. Contents. Discourse of political disengagement The endless pursuit of trust The paradoxes of parliament - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Parliament and Public Engagement: two sides of the same
coin?
Cristina Leston-Bandeira(ESRC – RES-000-22-4072)
ECPRD, Parliaments on the net IX, May 2011
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Contents
• Discourse of political disengagement
• The endless pursuit of trust
• The paradoxes of parliament
• Marrying Participatory with Representative Democracy
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Context of discourse on political disengagement• Decline vote turnout• Decline in trust• Political discourse of vote
apathy• But...
• Still, huge area of focus• New media: first a
panacea, then a must
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Impact of internet on parliaments
• Internet: opening up • But many challenges also
• One of the most exposed political institutions
• Questioning of legitimacy• Parliament has come to
symbolise political disengagement
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A unique institution
Collective
Visible
Accountable
• No single institutional voice
• Differing (opposing) agendas
• Multiplicity of audiences
• Temporary leaderships (vs permanent staff)
Representative institution
not about participatory democracy
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Some of the challenges in adopting new media• Slow processes• Difficult combination with technology
• An a-political political institution• Challenge of a single corporate image and voice• Personification of competing actors
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The paradox of parliament and new media
vsPersonal, individual
and spontaneous
nature of new media
Neutral, collective and slow nature of
parliaments
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Developing the paradox
How to make the most of new media tools in the context of non-personal, non-immediate and ultimately a-political spaces such as parliaments?
How to support the political voice of parliament?
How to engage with the public in this context?
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Developing Public Engagement
• Huge demand for online opening up
• Large investments on public engagement - namely through new media tools
• Development of communication/information services
• Great focus on citizen input
• Great focus on participatory democracy tools
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Marriage between Participatory and Representative Democracy
ParliamentRepresenta
tive Democracy
Participatory
Democracy
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The perverse effects of Public Engagement
• Activities mainly a-political, a-personal, a-individual
• Public engagement becoming a product in itself
• Contradictory pursuit of participatory democracy
• Undermining of representative and political role of institution
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Summing up - two sides of same coin?• Endless pursuit of trust not
entirely helpful
• Fine balance between:– Impartiality and Political– Accessibility and Representing– Public Engagement and The
Business
• Looking for:– Integration of political
meaning– Acceptance of Representative
remit
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Thank you
Photos from respective parliaments’ websites or iStockphoto.com
[email protected]/fass/managing-parliaments-image.aspx
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But...
Decline turnout not that significant (Franklin, Rose)
Trust varies according to external variables (Dalton
et al)
Huge increase of participatory democracyDevelopment of Critical Citizens (Norris)
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Summing up - two sides of same coin?• Endless pursuit of trust not
entirely helpful
• Fine balance between:– Impartiality and Political– Accessibility and Representing– Public Engagement and The
Business
• Looking for:– Integration of political
meaning– Acceptance of Representative
remit