The Internet and European Parliamentary Democracy: A Comparative Study of the Ethics of Political Communication in the Digital Age - Library of Legislative Studies 1st edition

This book investigates the ethical challenges the internet presents to contemporary parliamentary democracy in Europe and how these challenges are being addressed. It fills an important gap: current literature until now has largely focused on the study of internet usage by politicians and institutions.

With the ever widening scope of participation in internet-based communication, there are widely differing views on its potential social, economic and political impact, and whether parliamentary democracy will be strengthened or weakened in the information age.  Key questions include:

The book compares four European parliaments in Europe: the British, European, Portuguese and Swedish Parliaments, using both quantitative methods (questionnaires and survey of websites) and qualitative methods (workshops and face-to-face interviews with parliamentarians and parliamentary staff).

This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.