Exploring the impact of climate protests on UK MPs' discussions, analyzing influence on political discourse and policy change. Examines correlation between Fridays for Future protests and MPs' behavior, with focus on social media activity. Discusses generalizability of protest impacts and role of local protests in shaping politician behavior. Encourages future research on protest influence on political speech.
Protests prompt MPs to increase online communication post-protest events, showing quicker responsiveness to constituents' concerns.
Impact of protests on MPs' parliamentary speeches is limited, but they play a role in shaping overall discourse on issues.
Deep dives
Effects of Protests on Politicians' Behaviors
Protests have been a fundamental aspect of democracy and their impact on political debate and policy outcomes has been a subject of interest. Previous research has shown that protests can influence policy change and issue attention within legislative politics. However, a new study aimed to explore how protests impact the behavior of individual MPs, particularly in response to climate protests. The study emphasized the significance of not just looking at aggregated parliamentary outcomes, but focusing on the behavior of individual MPs affected by protests.
Influence of Protests on MPs' Communication
The study delved into how MPs respond to protests by analyzing their online and offline communication post-protest events. While previous literature mostly focused on parliamentary speeches, this study ventured into examining MPs' online behavior, particularly on social media. It highlighted that MPs' online communication, such as tweets, could serve as a quicker and more immediate way for them to show responsiveness to constituents' concerns compared to traditional parliamentary speeches.
Differences in MPs' Online and Offline Responsiveness
The research indicated a notable disparity in MPs' responsiveness between online and offline platforms. While MPs were more inclined to tweet about issues post-protest, there was a lack of corresponding increase in their parliamentary speeches on the same topics. This discrepancy suggested that MPs exhibited a stronger tendency to communicate online in response to protests, possibly due to fewer constraints and different audience dynamics in online interactions.
Implications and Generalizability of Findings
The study's findings raise considerations about the broader implications of protests on political discourse and policymaking. Despite the limited impact on individual MPs' parliamentary speeches, the study highlighted that protests could still play a role in shaping the overall discourse on issues like climate change. The research also underscored the importance of examining how different types of protests and contexts may influence MPs' responses and the generalizability of these findings across various scenarios.
Protest is a fundamental part of democracy. From thousands attending pro-Palestine marches in London, to farmers driving their tractors into Paris, Berlin, and Cardiff, to Just Stop Oil spraying UCL’s famous portico orange – protests are rarely out of the spotlight.
But what do protests actuallyachieve? Do they affect political debate and policy outcomes?
A new study sheds light on that, focusing on the impact of climate protests here in the UK on what MPs talk about – both in parliament itself and online.
One of the co-authors of that article is Tom Fleming, Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics, who joins us for this episode.
UCL’s Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including international relations, political theory, human rights, public policy-making and administration. The Department is recognised for its world-class research and policy impact, ranking among the top departments in the UK on both the 2021 Research Excellence Framework and the latest Guardian rankings.
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