Kunert Members of the European Parliament on the Web

Transparency, Information and Representation on Personal Websites of Parliamentarians
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-3-8452-7272-6
Verlag: Nomos
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 29, 270 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 227 mm

Reihe: Studien zum Parlamentarismus

The Members of the European Parliament are often ignored by citizens and media. Their work is perceived as being far away from the citizens, as just another part of the opaque institutions of the European Union.
Just as far away seems to be the national level, which the European parliamentarians have to keep in mind for their work as well as their further political career. Online communication on personal websites has the potential to address these problems since parliamentarians may present their work in depth.
This study looks at the websites of Members of the European Parliament with a quantitative content analysis, with the themes of information, transparency and representation being in the focus. For this, a comparison with national parliamentarians is made. The results show that differences between political levels as well as national and ideological factors play a role when assessing how parliamentarians present themselves online.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kunert, Jessica

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Europäische Union, Europapolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Medien & Gesellschaft, Medienwirkungsforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Kommunikation und Partizipation
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Parlament
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikation & Medien in der Politik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Cover;1
2;1. Introduction;20
2.1;1.1 (Digital) communication and representation;20
2.2;1.2 Research questions;21
2.3;1.3 Aims of the study;22
2.4;1.4 Relevance for politics and political science;23
2.5;1.5 Parliamentary communication goes online;26
2.6;1.6 Parliamentarians on the web;28
2.7;1.7 MEPs as distinctive parliamentarians;29
2.8;1.8 The dataset;31
2.9;1.9 Structure of the study;32
3;2. Theory and Context;36
3.1;2.1 Overview;36
3.2;2.2 Whom do MNPs represent? Struggles and challenges;38
3.2.1;2.2.1 MNPs and representation;42
3.2.2;2.2.2 The challenge of double-hatting;45
3.3;2.3 Making balancing acts visible – (Digital) communication of MNPs;49
3.3.1;2.3.1 Parliamentary communication – Relevance, aims and MNPbehaviour;49
3.3.2;2.3.2 Aims and tools of political and parliamentary communication;51
3.3.3;2.3.3 Obstacles to parliamentary communication;54
3.3.4;2.3.4 Communication behaviour of individual MNPs;57
3.4;2.4 Digital communication – Politics and parliaments on the internet;59
3.4.1;2.4.1 What is new compared to the traditional media?;59
3.4.2;2.4.2 Potential and pitfalls for politics;61
3.4.3;2.4.3 Use in parliaments and by MNPs;67
3.5;2.5 A special context for communication – The European Parliament;74
3.5.1;2.5.1 Why the European Parliament is a special context forcommunication;74
3.5.2;2.5.2 Double-hatting of MEPs – a balancing act across political levels;77
3.5.3;2.5.3 (Digital) Parliamentary communication in the European Parliament;82
3.5.4;2.5.4 MEPs and digital communication;86
4;3. Framework of Analysis;89
4.1;3.1 Research questions;90
4.2;3.2 The potential of personal websites;91
4.3;3.3 Types of parliamentarian communication;94
4.3.1;3.3.1 Ensuring the feedback loop;94
4.3.2;3.3.2 Informing;96
4.3.3;3.3.3 Signalling territorial representation cues;98
4.4;3.4 Hypotheses;104
4.4.1;3.4.1 Political level differences;104
4.4.2;3.4.2 Institutional differences on the national level;108
4.4.3;3.4.3 Ideological differences;110
5;4. Methodology;114
5.1;4.1 Research design;114
5.2;4.2 The internet as a tool for research;114
5.3;4.3 Chosen nationalities & sample;115
5.4;4.4 Instrumentation and measures;117
5.5;4.5 Intercoder reliability;120
5.6;4.6 Procedures;123
5.7;4.7 Data processing and analysis;124
6;5. Patterns of Variation;126
6.1;5.1 Structural elements;126
6.2;5.2 Ensuring the feedback loop;130
6.3;5.3 The Transparency Index;139
6.4;5.4 Informing;141
6.4.1;5.4.1 The Information Index;146
6.5;5.5 Signalling territorial representation;148
6.5.1;5.5.1 The European Index;152
6.6;5.6 Signalling territorial representation cues– National symbolism and content;154
6.6.1;5.6.1 The National Index;160
6.7;5.7 Conclusions;161
7;6. Analysis;164
7.1;6.1 Pre-political effects?The possible influence of demographic variables;164
7.2;6.2 Political level differences;169
7.3;6.3 Institutional differences on the national level;197
7.4;6.4 Ideological differences;210
8;7. Conclusions;227
8.1;7.1 Results;228
8.2;7.2 Digital representation through personal websites;230
8.2.1;7.2.1 Ensuring the feedback loop;231
8.2.2;7.2.2 Informing;233
8.2.3;7.2.3 Signalling territorial representation cues;233
8.3;7.3 Contributions of the study;235
8.4;7.4 Practical implications;236
8.5;7.5 Outlook and further research;239
9; Appendix: Codebook;241
10; References;249