Roadblocks to interactive digital adoption? Elite perspectives of party practices in the United Kingdom

Digital technology has often been heralded for its capacity to facilitate more interactive forms of political engagement. In the party context, many early studies found little evidence of this practice, but more recent citizen-focused interventions suggest the emergence of a more interactive approach. This article responds to such findings by asking whether party elites are embracing interactive digital tools and what explains current practices. This article conducts case studies of two parties within the United Kingdom – The Labour Party and the Green Party. Interviews are used to examine attitudes and practices in two different areas of party activity: electoral campaigning and internal governance. While there is little evidence of elite interest in the interactive potential of digital tools in the former, there is more evidence of interest in the latter area, even though barriers exist that frustrate the enactment of these ideas. Exploring the significance of parties’ objectives and organizational traits, this article examines explanations for these outcomes and, in so doing, helps scholars and practitioners alike to understand, identify and tackle barriers to the adoption of interactive digital tools by party elites

Data-driven political campaigns in practice: understanding and regulating diverse data-driven campaigns

Data-driven campaigning has become a feature of political campaigns around the world. There is growing evidence that political campaigners at the elite and grassroots level believe that data matters for electoral success. This belief is having important consequences for the way that political campaigns are being performed. However, in practice, data-driven campaigning does not take a single form and there are very different practices in the way data is being used. These variations matter because they have different democratic implications. Whilst some uses of data may be viewed as permissible, others can raise democratic concerns. This article casts light on a diversity of different data-driven practices evident in campaigns by offering a theoretical account of the different ways in which data can be used. Discussing three factors that characterise the activities of political campaigners, this article demonstrates variations in who is using data in campaigns, what the sources of campaign data are, and how data informs communication. Reviewing the landscape of data-driven campaigning within political parties, and drawing extensive analysis of the UK case, this article presents categories that can be used to map campaign practice and identify activities to which regulators may wish to respond

Post-Democratic Party Politics

In recent years many scholars have diagnosed a crisis of party politics. This article considers recent changes in the UK and Europe that appear to challenge this idea. Exploring Colin Crouch’s notion of ‘post-democratic’ party politics and considering his diagnosis of shifts in parties’ agenda setting, organisation and communication, the article considers evidence of post-democratic politics and the possibility for future renewal

The Membership Journey: Understanding and Boosting Membership Today

This is the final version. Available from the University of Sheffield via the link in this record.Membership is an important part of the working of a healthy democratic system. Yet in a world where individual and sporadic engagement is becoming the norm, membership of political organisations is increasingly unusual. • Membership organisations now regularly confront challenges in recruiting, activating and retaining members. • Membership can be usefully understood as a journey, not a series of disconnected stages. This journey is underpinned by three factors: 1) MOTIVATION 2) PROCESS 3) TRIGGER • By understanding these factors, organisations can better recruit, activate and retain members. • Organisations wishing to address membership challenges can take the following actions: * Understanding motivation: collect and communicate members’ reasons for joining; feedback members on the outcomes of their campaigning activity; target specific events around specific motivations; thank members for engaging and volunteering time * Understanding process: conduct mystery shopper exercises to see how easy it is to join and get involved with your organisation; install a direct debit system by default; share best practice in recruitment, retention and activation; offer lifetime membership; highlight motivations for joining and remaining in the party online * Understanding triggers: identify existing events, activities and catalysts for joining or taking action in an organisation, piggyback on external events and campaigns that might drive people to your organisation; orchestrate events that might cultivate engagement and boost membership; mainstream membership recruitment and engagement as a part of ongoing activities; ensure that triggers are the only cause of membership lossThis report was produced as part of a wider research project ‘Renewing Party Politics’ that is funded by the ESRC (Grant number: ES/N01667X/1)

The inter-institutional impact of digital platform companies on democracy : a case study of the UK media’s digital campaigning coverage

Digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are under increased scrutiny as regards their impact on society. Having prompted concerns about their capacity to spread misinformation, contribute to filter bubbles and facilitate hate speech, much attention has been paid to the threat platforms pose to democracy. In contrast to existing interventions considering the threats posed by interactions between platforms and users, in this article, I examine platforms’ impact on the democratic work of other bodies. Considering the relationship between platforms and the media, I reveal how platforms affect journalists’ ability to advance their democratic goals. Using a case study of journalistic coverage of digital campaigning at the 2019 UK general election, I show how platforms have hindered journalistic efforts to inform citizens and provide a watchdog function. These findings are significant for our understanding of platforms’ democratic impact and suggest policy makers may wish to regulate platforms’ inter-institutional impact upon democracy

Regulating digital campaigning : the need for precision in calls for transparency

Calls for transparency have become a prominent response to the challenges of overseeing online political campaigning, however, use of this term by policymakers often lacks precision about what is desired and how impacts can be secured. This article examines key policy documents and debates around digital campaigning in the United Kingdom, in particular, calls by the Electoral Commission, Information Commissioner's Office, and DCMS Select Committee for increased transparency. It argues that current policy prescriptions for transparency lack important detail about the types of information required. Indeed, rather than advocating a common response, we find that policy actors have different desires for financial, source, data, and targeting transparency that are not easy to appreciate. They also often fail to specify the form of transparency that is desired, specifically in relation to the audience, discoverability, comprehensibility, reliability, and impact of the information to be rendered transparent. This represents a clear challenge for those seeking to promote transparency, making it hard to establish clear metrics against which policy proposals can be measured. Future calls for transparency should, therefore, take care to be more precise, and should clearly specify both the type and form of transparency being called for