Renewing Party Politics? Digital Innovations in Political Campaigning

公民与国家之间的联系是民主政治的关键，但这种联系正在瓦解。许多研究已经诊断出代议制政治的危机，参与率下降，不信任程度上升，使民主机构的合法性受到怀疑。对许多人来说，数字技术提供了一种解决方案，促使政党采用新的数字竞选软件。为了探索数字创新更新民主的能力，本研究认为，我们需要了解政党与人民之间“脱节”的本质。因此，这项研究与传统的“数字民主”分析不同，它关注的是公众态度。采用Allen和Birch（2015）使用的方法论方法，该项目将辨别公众和政党如何在实践中设想民主联系，并将其作为一种理想，突出矛盾和趋同来诊断问题。将这些见解与数字软件的功能和民主联系理论（Dalton， Farrell和McAllister， 2011）联系起来，考虑了数字创新更新政党政治的能力。为了进行分析，需要进行3个工作包（WP）。WP1：各政党如何看待民主联系？自2010年以来，各政党如何使用数字管理系统？WP1将首先确定该项目感兴趣的数字创新类型的可用形式-即“数字管理软件”-并将对它们执行的功能进行分类。其次，探索和发展民主联系的理论，为后续分析提供框架。然后，通过访谈、内部政党数据和3个选区政党的案例研究（1个来自工党、保守党和苏格兰民族党），PI和RA将绘制对民主联系和数字技术使用的看法。这些数据将为政党政治的发展提供新的见解，并将用于制作案例研究报告和文章，追踪变革的形式，并考虑数字技术对政党组织的影响。WP2：公民如何看待民主联系？政党对数字管理系统的使用如何影响公众态度？工作包2探讨新技术的影响。与YouGov合作，PI将委托进行两项调查。第一个将评估公众对政党的态度，试图辨别公众希望政党如何参与，以及他们如何看待这在实践中发挥作用。将对数据进行分析，以确定民主联系的概念（WP1），然后与政党态度进行比较，以确定公众和政党概念中的协同作用和不协调。该分析提供了对当前联系状态的诊断，并将确定“脱节”的领域，以便在WP3中进一步检查。这份工作报告还将调查公众对政党使用数字竞选技术的态度。利用与克里斯·琼斯博士合作设计的分割样本调查，PI将评估社交媒体数据挖掘等做法是否与公众对民主联系的看法相一致。这将通知一篇文章，信息图表和从业者简报文件。WP3：数字竞选方法能解决公民与国家之间的脱节吗？在与智库“参与”的合作下，PI将通过3个审议活动来探索政党和公民对民主联系的态度，并测试不同形式的数字技术调和这些看法的能力。基于调查数据，这些活动将测试人们的态度；探索持续反思是否会影响公众和政党愿望的构思（借鉴斯托克、海伊和巴尔的作品，即将出版）。活动将确定理想的联系形式，这些发现将被用于考虑不同形式的数字技术促进联系的能力，从而更新政党政治。

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 (1 from Labour, the Conservatives and Scottish National Party) the PI and RA will map perceptions of democratic linkage and usage of digital technology. This data will provide new insight on developments in party politics and will be used to produce case study accounts and articles that trace the form of change and consider the impact of digital technology on party organisation.WP2: How do citizens perceive democratic linkage, and how does parties' use of digital management systems affect public attitudes?Work package 2 explores the impact of new technology. Working with YouGov the PI will commission 2 surveys. The first will assess public attitudes towards parties', seeking to discern how the public want parties to engage and how they perceive this to work in practice. Data will be analysed to identify conceptions of democratic linkage (WP1) and then compared with party attitudes to identify synergies and incongruities in public and party conceptions. This analysis offers a diagnosis of the state of current linkage, and will identify areas of 'disconnect' to be further examined in WP3.This WP will also probe public attitudes towards parties' use of digital campaigning techniques. Utilising a split sample survey, designed in collaboration with Dr Chris Jones, the PI will assess whether practices such as social media data mining are compatible with public notions of democratic linkage. This will inform an article, infographics and practitioner briefing papers. WP3: Can digital campaigning methods resolve the disconnect between citizens and the state?In collaboration with the think tank Involve, the PI will use 3 deliberative events to explore parties' and citizens' attitudes towards democratic linkage and test the capacity of different forms of digital technology to reconcile these perceptions. Building on survey data these events will test attitudes; exploring whether sustained reflection affects how public and party desires are conceived (drawing on work by Stoker, Hay and Barr, forthcoming). Events will identify ideal forms of linkage - findings that will be used, returning to WP1, to consider the capacity of different forms of digital technology to promote linkage and hence renew party politics.