Our latest blog post, by Gillian Bolsover of the University of Leeds, provides an initial analysis of the biggest players in online discourse on Twitter in the leadup to the Indian General Election, which began on 11 April. Beginning with an overview of the election and the role of social...
This month’s blog post (kindly provided by Julia Cushion of the University of Sheffield) provides an overview of a recent event held at the Open Data Institute (ODI) in Leeds, at which several speakers – including our Co-Director, Cristina Leston-Bandeira – discussed democratic participation and political engagement. As shown across...
Immigration is continuing to drive political agendas around the world. In Australia, parliament recently approved a bill to allow some asylum seekers into the country on medical grounds reigniting debates over immigration and asylum seekers. Europe continues to struggle with the political and social fallout from the recent inflow of...
This month’s blog post – presented by Shane Singh of the University of Georgia – addresses the topic of compulsory voting, which remains widely-debated in the UK and overseas in connection with topics including voter behaviour, turnout, engagement, political parties and democratic rights. Dr Singh presents recent research findings on...
The use of deliberative democracy methods to engage the public in answering challenging questions is gaining momentum – as seen with the impact of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Abortion that prompted a referendum. They offer a fresh approach for members of the public to help solve important policy issues....
Our latest blog post, provided by Leeds POLIS PhD researcher Nicole Nisbett, provides some recollections on the recent launch event for the new Hansard website, and its unprecedented usefulness to scholars of Parliament and politics. The new Hansard website was launched on July 6th 2018 in Westminster Hall’s Jubilee Room....
Last month, the CDE hosted a discussion event on the topic of Parliamentary e-petitions. Attendees (including some petitioners) were given the opportunity to discuss prominent petitions – such as those relating to the EU Referendum, and the prospect of a state visit by Donald Trump – and to discuss the...
Our latest blog post has been provided by Chantal Sullivan-Thomsett, whose PhD Project (based jointly at the School of Languages and POLIS, both at the University of Leeds) focuses on the German Green party’s contemporary means of political engagement. This post provides reflections on the Party’s recent conference in Berlin –...
The Centre’s inaugural symposium took place on 16 February, during which over 40 academics and practitioners gathered to discuss some of the key underlying themes of democratic engagement. Below is a roundup of the topics covered in the panellist discussions. The symposium took place at the beautiful Devonshire Hall in...
Our most recent blog post (reposted from the House of Commons Library) has been provided by Elise Uberoi, Senior Research Analyst at the House of Commons Library. It offers an extremely useful breakdown of ‘political engagement’, considering factors such as trust in politicians, electoral activity and confidence in participation....