Parliamentary functions portrayed on European parliaments' websites

This article uses data from a pilot study on the websites of 15 parliaments in Europe to identify which parliamentary functions are portrayed on these websites. The pilot study undertook a contents analysis focused on four parliamentary functions: legislation, legitimation, representation and scrutiny, to ascertain the extent to which each of these functions is present on the websites analysed. As parliaments face difficulties of public perception, their websites become an important tool for dissemination of parliamentary work. And yet we know little about what these websites portray, when it comes to parliamentary activity. Are these websites a reflection of parliamentary work? To what extent do these websites express political debate? To what extent are these websites comprehensive to all of the roles performed by parliaments? This article shows that legislation is the main focus of parliamentary websites in Europe and representation the one that has less devoted space. This may go some way to explain why some parliamentary websites are considered as too dense and not user friendly. We also show that parliamentary websites tend to focus on parliamentary outputs to the detriment of parliamentary actors. Because of their institutional collective representation, parliaments are cautious in focusing on politicians or parties; instead they focus on what parliaments produce (laws, questions, debates, etc.). Again, this goes some way to explain why parliaments' websites may not be as engaging as one may expect, simply because they are not meant to reflect political debate, but simply to facilitate it

The Digital Democracy Commission report is about far more than just digital

The Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy recently reported, recommending amongst other things that online voting be introduced in time for the next General Election. One of the Commission’s members, Cristina Leston-Bandeira, highlights the key elements of the report, and expresses hope that real change could be afoot

What is the point of petitions in British politics?

Just under 2 million people signed a petition opposing Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK – half the number of those who signed one asking for a second EU referendum. With the role of petitions taking centre stage as a result, Cristina Leston-Bandeira situates the process within a broader policy-making context. She explains that petitions are an effective way of raising awareness or showing discontent, and that the adoption of public demands into policy remains subject to the usual political proces

Engaging the public with the scrutiny of legislation requires more than just asking for their views

Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson examine the impact of a stage of the legislative process piloted by the House of Commons in 2013, during which the public were invited to comment on a bill undergoing parliamentary scrutiny. They explain why, despite an impressive response, the Public Reading Stage failed to make much of an impact

The Pursuit of Legitimacy as a Key Driver for Public Engagement: The European Parliament Case

Political disengagement and declining trust have become main areas of concern for parliaments in Europe, leading to a considerable reinforcement of public engagement activities. The European Parliament is a prime example of an institution where the need to strengthen the link with citizens became a key priority, in particular following the Lisbon Treaty’s reinforcement of the parliament’s powers and visibility. This article analyses the decision-making processes this Parliament has put in place to meet the public engagement agenda. It is mainly based on elite interviews with officials and representatives. We show that political will was key to move forward the public engagement agenda, and that new media has become a core element of this strategy

Demografia, actividade e emprego: contributos para uma demografia do trabalho

A complexidade das relações de trabalho induz que, para a sua compreensão, seja necessária e útil a atenção da generalidade das ciências sociais e humanas. Mas, se bem que a partilha das diferentes tarefas científicas seja a priori determinada pelo objecto de cada campo científico, o estudo do trabalho deve implicar formas de cooperação interdisciplinar. A ampliação do campo dos estudos demográficos, a que se tem assistido durante as últimas décadas, devida principalmente à importância crescente dos factores demográficos, tende a alargar-se também ao estudo dos fenómenos ligados ao trabalho. Mas este processo encontra-se ainda no seu início. Neste texto, procura-se delimitar o território da demografia do trabalho, com a apresentação de métodos de medidas da actividade e do emprego, directamente inspirados na análise demográfica, e uma reflexão sobre os principais temas que dizem respeito à vida das populações activas e respectivos contextos demográficos.The complexity of labour relations is such that their comprehension requires and benefits from the attention of the social and human sciences in general. But, even though the division of the different scientific tasks is determined, a priori, by the object of each scientific field, the study of work should entail forms of interdisciplinary cooperation. The expansion of the field of demographic studies that has been witnessed in recent decades is mainly due to the growing importance of demographic factors. It tends also to extend to the study of phenomena connected with work, though this process is still in its initial phase. This texts seeks to trace out the territory of the demography of work, with a presentation of the methods used to measure work activity and employment, methods directly inspired by demographic analysis, and a reflection on the main topics that concern the lives of working populations, and their demographic contexts.La complexité des relations de travail implique que, pour les comprendre, il soit nécessaire et utile de faire appel à l’ensemble des sciences sociales et humaines. Cependant, bien que le partage des différentes tâches scientifiques soit, a priori, déterminé par l’objet de chaque champ scientifique, l’étude du travail doit impliquer des formes de coopération interdisciplinaire. L’élargissement du champ des études démographiques auquel nous avons pu assister ces dernières décennies, surtout sous l’effet de l’importance croissante des facteurs démographiques, tend à s’élargir aussi à l’étude des phénomènes liés au travail. Mais ce processus ne fait que commencer. Ce texte tente de délimiter le territoire de la démographie du travail, en présentant des méthodes de mesures de l’activité et de l’emploi qui s’inspirent directement de l’analyse démographique, ainsi qu’une réflexion sur les principaux thèmes qui concernent la vie des populations actives et leurs contextes démographiques.La complejidad de las relaciones laborales conlleva a que, para su comprensión, sea necesario y útil atender la generalidad de las ciencias sociales y humanas. Aunque la coparticipación de diferentes tareas científicas sea a priori determinada por el objeto de cada campo científico, el estudio del trabajo debe implicar formas de cooperación interdisciplinar. La ampliación del campo de los estudios demográficos, a la que hemos asistido en las últimas décadas, debida principalmente a la importancia creciente de los factores demográficos, tiende a alargarse también al estudio de los fenómenos ligados al trabajo, aunque este proceso se encuentra aún en su inicio. En este texto, se busca delimitar el territorio de la demografía del trabajo, con la presentación de métodos de medidas da actividad y de empleo, directamente inspirados en el análisis demográfico y una reflexión sobre los principales temas que conciernen a la vida de las poblaciones activas y respectivos contextos demográficos

Meaningful scrutiny, or a PR stunt? experts respond to Ed Miliband’s proposal for a ‘Public PMQs’

Is Ed Miliband’s idea for a “public Prime Minister’s Questions” a good one? Following on from part one of our ‘Ask the Experts’ piece, we asked the Hansard Society’s Matt Korris, Huddersfield University’s Andy Mycock, and Christina Leston-Bandeira to join Democratic Audit’s Sean Kippin in giving their view on whether this is a public relations act, or a bold step forward in scrutinising the Prime Minister

The development of public engagement as a core institutional role for parliaments

Public engagement has become a noticeable activity for parliaments across the world. However, we lack understanding of its role despite considerable developments in scholarly work on public engagement in the sciences and on deliberative and participatory democracy by social scientists. This article provides a framework to understand the significance of parliamentary public engagement and to evaluate its effectiveness. It explains how parliamentary public engagement has emerged because of a representational shift in who is doing the representing in parliament and in what is represented, following key societal changes. We define parliamentary public engagement, showing the importance of differentiating between the activity, its effects and broader democratic ideals. We identify information and education as the types of engagement activity most developed by parliaments, with much still to do in consultation and participation activities. The article finishes with a discussion of seven key challenges in developing and implementing effective institutional parliamentary public engagement practices

The Institutional Representation of Parliament

Recent theoretical re-conceptualisations of political representation and contemporary empirical analyses of parliamentary representation have largely neglected the representation of parliaments as institutions. As a consequence, relatively little attention has been focused upon what is being communicated to citizens about parliaments, and upon the nature of the parliamentary institutions that citizens are expected to engage with. This is the neglected institutional dimension of parliamentary representation. Using official documents and interview data from 39 key actors in the Scottish, Westminster and European Parliaments, we analyse who act as ‘claim-makers’ on behalf of parliaments, the nature of these claims in different political contexts, and the symbolic representative prompts offered by the very architecture of parliaments. We identify a basic paradox of institutional representation in that those who ‘speak for’ (most loudly and most persistently) and ‘act for’ parliaments as institutions are not primarily elected representatives but rather non-elected officials

Imagens e representações da ruralidade na imprensa portuguesa

Tese de doutoramento, Sociologia, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2000Apesar da sua reduzida dimensão, o território português possui geografias regionais diversificadas. Diferenças de relevo, fortes irregularidades climáticas, condições hidrográficas não unifonnes, solos de diferentes tipos, combinados com modalidades de intervenção humana também diversas conjugaram-se na criação de espaços rurais bastante contrastados. Tal diversidade manifesta-se sobretudo através das clivagens entre o Norte e o Sul do país. As estruturas agrárias, consolidadas ao longo de séculos constituem um dos elementos mais expressivos desse contraste