Study title

A collection of interviews conducted with figures in national UK political parties, specifically with regards to digital technology and how parties are seeking to connect with citizens. A small number of interviews were also conducted with digital consultants and party activists. The link between citizens and the state is the crux of democratic politics, yet it is crumbling. Numerous studies have diagnosed a crisis in representative politics with decreased participation and growing levels of distrust bringing the legitimacy of democratic institutions into doubt. For many a solution has been offered by digital technology, leading parties to embrace new digital campaigning software. To explore the capacity of digital innovations to renew democracy this study argues that we need to understand the nature of the 'disconnect' between parties and the people. As such, this study departs from traditional analyses of 'digital democracy' by focusing on public attitudes. Adapting the methodological approach used by Allen and Birch (2015) the project will discern how the public and parties conceive democratic linkage in practice and as an ideal, highlighting contradictions and convergence to diagnose the problem. Correlating these insights to the functions of digital software and theories of democratic linkage (Dalton, Farrell and McAllister, 2011) the capacity of digital innovations to renew party politics is considered. To enable analysis 3 work packages (WP) are conducted. WP1: How do parties perceive democratic linkage, and how have parties used digital management systems since 2010? WP1 will first identify available forms of the type of digital innovation of interest to this project - namely 'digital management software' - and will categorise the functions they perform. Second, it will explore and develop theories of democratic linkage to provide a framework for subsequent analysis. Then, using interviews, internal party data and 3 case studies of constituency parties...