Developing Political Conversations?

Abstract

This paper seeks to develop an understanding of the role played by social media (in the English context) in shaping the nature of localized political engagement between citizens and local authorities. Drawing on a survey of all English local authorities and initial work in developing three detailed case studies, the paper examines the utilization of social media before going on to ask what potential these media might hold for the enhancement of local participation. Amidst contemporary debates about the nature of local governance, not least those prompted by the recent preoccupation with the Big Society (Cameron, 2010) and the new Localism Bill (2011), Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Twitter afford new opportunities for online interaction – characterized here as ‘political conversations’ – that could contribute to the reinvigoration of the local public sphere. In particular these platforms could encourage forms of participation that would bridge the divide that has emerged in recent years between residents as consumers of local services and residents as citizens, or local democratic actors. Further the paper outlines questions emerging from initial case study scoping concerning the impact these media have upon stubborn citizen engagement issues around accessibility, depth of representation, tokenism, poor citizen feedback, consultation fatigue, democratic deficit and inequalities of power within state-shaped platforms of engagement.