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Abstract
The overall aim of this volume is to investigate the impact of new information and communications technologies (ICTs), in particular the Internet, upon parliamentary democracy in Europe. Through a comparative study of four parliaments (the British, European, Portuguese and Swedish), our research addresses three important dimensions of the impact of the Internet on parliamentary democracy, namely, the practices, principles and rules related to the use of the Internet in a parliamentary context. It is hoped that, by comparing the experiences of the four parliaments and their Members, a European perspective on the development of and issues about ‘parliamentary e-Democracy’ can be established. The main sources of data and methodologies employed in this volume include a questionnaire survey, content analysis of parliamentary websites, interviews with parliamentarians and parliamentary staff and research workshops. Here we highlight the main features of the individual contributions included in this volume.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Institute of Applied Ethics (IAE) and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Hull for the generous award of funding towards the research project ‘Code of Conduct: The Impact of New Media on Parliamentary Democracy in Europe’ (www.hull.ac.uk/e-parliament). Thanks also go to Kalsdad University in Sweden for their kind support towards the dissemination of questionnaires to parliamentarians in the Swedish Riksdag. We would like to thank the large number of parliamentarians, their assistants and parliamentary staff at the British, European, Portuguese and Swedish Parliament for contributing time and their personal views through responding to our questionnaires, answering our questions during interviews and participating in our research workshops. In particular, we would like to thank Dr Richard Corbett MEP and his office staff for having acted as our host during our field research at the European Parliament. Last but not least, the excellent research assistance provided by Rosa Vicente-Merino in the past three years is much appreciated.
Notes
1. R. Davies, The Web of Politics: The Internet's Impact on the American Political System (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
2. The issue of digital divide between different countries and between different social groups remains one of the hottest debated topics related to the politics of the internet. See, for example, P. Norris, Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001); W. Wresch, Disconnected: Haves and Have-nots in the Information Age (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1996); L. J. Servon, Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community and Public Policy (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002).
3. Among the many studies dealing with this topic, see M. Castells, The Rise of the Network Society (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996); M. Stefik, The Internet Edge: Social, Technical, and Legal Challenges for a Networked World (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000).
4. The term e-Democracy means the application of new ICTs, in particular internet technologies, and their transformational impact in political systems and processes. Other and comparable terms, such as digital democracy, cyberdemocracy and teledemocracy have also been used in the literature. For a detailed discussion of the origin and issues related to the concept of e-Democracy, see T. Vedel, ‘The Idea of Electronic Democracy: Origins, Visions and Questions’, Parliamentary Affairs, 59/2 (2006), pp. 226–35.
5. For instance, S. Kalathil and T. C. Boas, Open Networks Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rules (Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2003). For the internet's impact upon democratisation in both established and new democracies, see P. Ferdinand (ed.), The Internet, Democracy and Democratization (London: Frank Cass, 2000).
6. See, for example, R. Gibson, P. Nixon and S. Ward (eds.), Political Parties and the Internet: Net Gain? (London: Routledge, 2003).
7. G. Lawson, NetState: Creating Electronic Government (London: Demos, 1998), p. 55.
8. R. Allan, ‘Parliament, Elected Representatives and Technology 1997–2005—Good in Parts?’, Parliamentary Affairs, 95/2 (2006), pp. 360–65.
9. See, for example, K. McCullangh, ‘E-democracy: Potential for Political Revolution?’, International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 11/2 (2003), pp. 149–61; R. Ferguson, ‘How will the internet change politics?’, Speech at Editorial Intelligence event, 29 March 2007, available at http://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/assets/Editorial_Intelligence_speech.pdf (accessed on 25 April 2007).
10. For reference to the term ‘virtual parliament’, see A. Campbell, A. Harrop and B. Thomson, ‘Towards the Virtual Parliament – What Computers Can Do For MPs’, Parliamentary Affairs, 52/3 (1999), pp. 388–403. Terms such as ‘online parliament’ and ‘virtual parties’ are discussed at length in Norris, Digital Divide.
11. C. Di Gennaro and W. Dutton, ‘The Internet and the Public: Online and Offline Political Participation in the United Kingdom’, Parliamentary Affairs, 59/2 (2006), pp. 299–311.
12. R. K. Gibson, W. Lusoli and S. Ward, ‘Online Participation in the UK: Testing a “Contextualised” Model of Internet Effects’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 7/4 (2005), pp. 561–83.
13. On the eve of the May 2007 UK local elections, virtually all political parties resorted to the internet to broaden their campaign coverage. Tony Blair launched the Labour Party's YouTube channel with a view to having direct communication with voters. Clippings of the Labour Party's election broadcast appeared on the same website ahead of the normal broadcast schedule. Likewise, other political parties in the UK have also been active in campaigning online.
14. Quoted in The Times, 27 January 2007.
15. ‘Foreword' by Bridget Prentice MP in R. Ferguson, Digital Dialogues (London: Hansard Society, 2006), p. 7.
16. S. Ward, R. Gibson, and W. Lusoli, ‘Old Politics, New Media: Parliament, the Public and the Internet’, paper presented to the Political Studies Association Conference, University of Leeds, 5–7 April 2005.
17. S. Coleman and D. F. Norris, ‘A New Agenda for e-Democracy’, Forum Discussion Paper No.4, January (Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute, 2005), p. 24.
18. Ward, Gibson and Lusoli, ‘Old Politics, New Media’.
19. Norris, Digital Divide, p. 133.
20. G. Graham, The Internet: A Philosophical Inquiry (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 66.
21. D. Newsom, Bridging the Gap in Global Communication (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), p. 100.
22. T. Zittel, ‘Political Representation in the Networked Society: The Americanisation of European Systems of Responsible Party Government’, The Journal of Legislative Studies, 9/3 (2003), pp. 32–53.
23. Zittel, ‘Political Representation in the Networked Society’.
24. For horizontal and comparative analyses see J. Hoff, Members of Parliaments' Use of ICT in a Comparative European Perspective', Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 5–16; P. Filzmaier, K. Stainer-Hämmerle and I. Snellen, ‘Information Management of MPs: Experiences from Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands’, Information Polity 9 (2004), pp. 17–28; G. Cardoso, C. Cunha and S. Nascimento, ‘Ministers of Parliament and Information and Communication Technologies as a Means of Horizontal and Vertical Communication in Western Europe’, Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 29–40; B, Elvebakk, ‘Virtually Competent? Competence and Experience with Internet-based Technologies among European Parliamentarians’, Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 41–53 and J. Hoff, ‘The Democratic Potentials ff Information Technology: Attitudes of European MPs towards New Technology’, Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 55–66. For single case analyses on the Scottish, German and Swiss Parliament see C. F. Smith and C. W. R. Webster, ‘Members of the Scottish Parliament on the Net’, Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 67–80; H. J. Kleinsteuber and M. Fries, ‘German MPs and ICT’, Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 81–7 and J-L. Chappelet, ‘The Appropriation of E-mail and the Internet by Members of the Swiss Parliament’, Information Polity, 9 (2004), pp. 89–102.
25. Note that the total number of interviews does not include the interviews conducted by Christine Neuhold and Jamal Shahin for their article.
26. Zittel, ‘Political Representation in the Networked Society’.