‘Reaching in’? The potential for e-petitions in local government in the United Kingdom

Bochel, Catherine; Bochel, Hugh

doi:10.1080/1369118x.2016.1203455

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(61 reference statements)

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“…Advances in digital technology have also contributed to the popularity of parliamentary e-petitions, 'providing an opportunity for larger numbers of citizens to make their voices heard in a relatively easy and cost-effective manner' (Bochel and Bochel, 2017: 686; see also Asher et al, 2019, for an analysis of Twitter conversations about parliamentary e-petitions). Indeed, for the host institution, parliamentary e-petitions provide an opportunity to engage in what has been described elsewhere as 'digital listening', with analytics (e.g.…”

Section: Participation Parliamentary E-petitions and The Gatekeepinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The value of ‘between-election’ political participation: Do parliamentary e-petitions matter to political elites?

Matthews

2020

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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Responding to the crisis of democracy, legislatures worldwide are developing new participatory mechanisms to promote parliamentary engagement and provide additional opportunities for citizens to influence policymaking. Yet despite the prevalence of such initiatives, little is known about whether political elites are receptive to public input. This article addresses this important gap, presenting original research that examines the e-petition system in the United Kingdom’s national legislature. It demonstrates significant apathy – on occasion, antipathy – on the part of Westminster’s elected MPs. In particular, it reveals concerns that parliamentary e-petitions risk undermining the relationship between MPs and their constituents; inundating the parliamentary agenda with immediate, but not necessarily important, issues; and exacerbating misunderstandings of the parliamentary process. More broadly, political elites remain sceptical about the capacity of parliamentary e-petitions to address the democratic divide, with a widespread sense that e-petitions often amplify the voices of those who already shout the loudest.

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Section: Participation Parliamentary E-petitions and The Gatekeepinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bochel, 2016; Carman, 2010, 2014), and municipal authorities (e.g. Åström et al, 2017; Bochel and Bochel, 2017). Indeed, e-petition systems now exist in almost all European countries (Böhle and Riehm, 2013; Schmitter and Trechsel, 2004).…”

Section: Participation Parliamentary E-petitions and The Gatekeeping Role Of Political Elitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The value of ‘between-election’ political participation: Do parliamentary e-petitions matter to political elites?

Matthews

2020

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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“…However, even where there are deliberate attempts to open up processes, as with petitions systems, publication of draft bills and more open calls for evidence, significant challenges remain, including in relation to existing disparities of power and resources (for example, Barnes et al ., 2007), fairness of process and the management of expectations (Bochel, 2016), as well as the potential difficulties associated with balancing attempts to develop more participative forms of democracy alongside traditional representative democracy (for example, Bandeira and Ferraro, 2017; Bochel and Bochel, 2017). It is therefore not surprising that there have been concerns expressed that parliamentary committees continue to a large extent to listen to the ‘usual suspects’ (for example, Halpin et al ., 2012; Liaison Committee, 2012; Pedersen et al ., 2015), who also arguably have better access than other interests through other parts of the political and policy-making processes (McGarvey and Cairney, 2008).…”

Section: Committees and Witness Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Place at the Table? Parliamentary Committees, Witnesses and the Scrutiny of Government Actions and Legislation

Bochel

Berthier

2019

Social Policy and Society

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Issues of diversity in elected bodies have been highlighted in recent years, both with regard to elected representatives themselves, and, more recently, in respect of the treatment of those working in such institutions, especially women. This article focuses on another aspect of diversity, inequality and representation, the voices heard by parliamentary committees in their scrutiny of government actions and legislation.The article discusses the current position in the Scottish Parliament (and other UK legislatures) with, for example, around three-fifths of witnesses at Holyrood being male, and highlights both ‘demand’ and ‘supply’ factors that influence the make-up of committee witnesses. It also identifies a number of functions that witnesses can play for committees, and how these relate to diversity and representation, and suggests that there may be benefits to committees and legislatures in hearing from a wider range of voices.

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“…Whilst some caution is necessary when interpreting the conduct of such petitions (S. Wright, 2012) there is little doubt that such e-petitions have the potential to register protest or advocate an issue (Leston-Bandeira, 2017). However, the evidence for their impact on actual legislative outcomes is mixed (Bochel & Bochel, 2016;Dumas, Harrison, Hagen, & Zhao, 2017;Hough, 2012;S. Wright, 2015b) but researchers are beginning to use such systems as a source of secondary data analysis (Briassoulis, 2010) and to undertake computational social science investigations (Jungherr & Theocharis, 2017).…”

Section: The Utility Of E-petition Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the outcome of UKs referendum on EU membership using e-petition data and machine learning algorithms

Clark

Morris

Lomax

2018

Journal of Information Technology & Politics

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The United Kingdom's 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union is perhaps one of the most important recent electoral events in the UK. This political sentiment has confounded pollsters, media commentators and academics alike, and has challenged elected Members of the Westminster Parliament. Unfortunately, for many areas of the UK this referendum outcome is not known for Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies, rather it is known for the coarser geography of counting areas. This study uses novel data and machine learning algorithms to estimate the Leave vote percentage for these constituencies. The results are seen to correlate well with other estimates.

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‘Reaching in’? The potential for e-petitions in local government in the United Kingdom

Cited by 20 publications

References 48 publications

The value of ‘between-election’ political participation: Do parliamentary e-petitions matter to political elites?

The value of ‘between-election’ political participation: Do parliamentary e-petitions matter to political elites?

A Place at the Table? Parliamentary Committees, Witnesses and the Scrutiny of Government Actions and Legislation

Estimating the outcome of UKs referendum on EU membership using e-petition data and machine learning algorithms

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