April 14-19, 2009
At the ECPR joint sessions in Lisbon, Portugal, there was a workshop titled Parliaments, Parties and Politicians in cyberspace convened by Cristina Leston-Bandeira.
Abstract
New information and communication technologies are increasingly applied within European representative democracies, affecting central institutions such as parties, parliaments and politicians. This workshop focused on whether the application of these new technologies has had an impact on how representative democracy works. The purpose of the workshop was to assess not only how party organizations, parliaments and politicians in a wide range of European democracies apply the new technology when conducting their primary assignments but also, and primarily, to assess the reasons for and impact of this application. When assessing the reasons for applying the new technology, we wished to focus in particular on the relationship between institutional characteristics and online presence. When assessing the impact, we distinguished between internal and external consequences. We wanted to assess how the technology may have an impact on the kind and level of activity, the assignments taken on and fulfilled, and the organizational characteristics within these political institutions. Furthermore, we wanted to analyse how the application of the new technology changed the relationship between parties, parliaments and politicians on the one hand, and the electorate on the other.
List of participants and titles of the papers
Some of these papers can be found by clicking on their titles, and in the Research Papers section of this website.
F.Bastien & F.Greffet “The impact of context features over the development of party websites : a comparative analysis of France and Canada in election campaign”
S. Braghiroli, “MEPs 2.0 ? Europarliamentarians’ communication strategies in the internet era : general developments and individual specificities”
C. Cunha & F. Seiceira, “Parliaments, Parties and Politicians in Portuguese Cyberspace”
C. Faria, “The eDemocracy project applied to the climate changing policy in the Brazilian parliament : a case study”
C-P Ghillebaert, “The virtual tribute of would-be candidates to democracy. Has internet become the best or the last resort of candidates for presidency in France ?”
N. Jackson & D. Lilleker, “Interacting and Representing : can Web 2.0 enhance the roles of an MP ?”
M. Jensen, “Political participation, alienation and the internet in Spain and the United States”
I. Kirkpatrick, “Smoothing the Wheels of Democracy ? A Case Study on the Impact of IT Reform and the Internet on Scottish Parliamentary Committees”
L. Mosca, “Making democracy work online ? Interpreting the web presence of Italian regions”
A. Padró-Solanet, “”The strategic adaptation of party organizations to the new ICTs : a study of Catalan and Spanish parties”
A. Ramonaite, “Bringing ideology back in ? the impact of electronic voting assistance tool on democratic process in a post-communist society”
R. De Rosa, “Configuring eParliaments from an Institutional Perspective : The Italian Case”
D. Schwarz & L. Schaedel, “Do Politicians Keep their Promises ?”
S. Vissers, “From preaching to the converted to preaching through the converted”
