Electrified Democracy: The Internet and the United Kingdom Parliament in History

by Andrew Blick

Overview

The story of how the UK Parliament came to use the Internet from the 1960s onwards has never been told. Electrified Democracy places the impact of technology on parliamentary workings in its longer term historical context. The author identifies repeating patterns of perception and analysis, and cultural tendencies in the perception of inventions dating back over centuries that have reasserted themselves in connection with the parliamentary response to networked computers. He uncovers evidence and makes new connections, while situating all this within the wider global debates on connections between communication and democracy in the age of the Internet, constitutional law and history, and 'law and technology'. This book will be of interest to a wide readership including policy makers, researchers, and all those interested in contemporary controversies about the role of the Internet in modern societies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108473057
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Series:	Law in Context
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.89(w) x 9.84(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Andrew Blick is Reader in Politics and Contemporary History and Head of the Department of Political Economy at King's College London. He has extensive experience of working inside political institutions, including the United Kingdom Parliament, and has written widely on constitutional matters.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The Internet Debate Since 1990; 2. The Permanent Platform: Parliament Online, 1996–2020; 3. Technology and Transformation: Perspectives up to 1945; 4. Disillusion and Expectation, 1945–1990; 5. The Political and Constitutional Context; 6. Computers, Networks and Parliament up to 1996; 7. Pressures, Resistance, and Possibilities in Parliament Since 1996; 8. Promotion and Regulation, Parliamentary Assessments of the Internet Since 1996; Conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

‘… lick provides a wealth of information and generally convincing analyses.’ Geraldine Castel, Journal of British Studies

From the Publisher