Electrified Democracy: The Internet And The United Kingdom Parliament In History

387 Pages·2021·2.492 MB·English

by  Andrew Blick

Electrified Democracy
ThestoryofhowtheUKParliamentcametousetheInternetfromthe1960s
onwards has never been told. Electrified Democracy places the impact of
technology on parliamentary workings in its longer-term historical context.
The author identifies repeating patterns of perception and analysis, and
culturaltendenciesintheperceptionofinventionsdatingbackovercenturies
thathavereassertedthemselvesinconnectionwiththeparliamentaryresponse
to networked computers. He uncovers evidence and makes new connections
whilesituatingallthiswithinthewiderglobaldebatesonconnectionsbetween
communication and democracy in the age of the Internet, constitutional law
and history, and ‘law and technology’. This book will be of interest to a wide
readership including policymakers, researchers and all those interested in
contemporarycontroversiesabouttheroleoftheInternetinmodernsocieties.
AndrewBlickisReaderinPoliticsandContemporaryHistoryandHeadofthe
DepartmentofPoliticalEconomyatKing'sCollegeLondon.Hehasextensive
experience of working inside political institutions, including the United
Kingdom Parliament,and has writtenwidely on constitutional matters.

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Electrified Democracy
The Internet and the United Kingdom Parliament in History
ANDREW BLICK
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108473057
DOI:10.1017/9781108602006
©AndrewBlick2021
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2021
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Blick,Andrew,author.
Title:Electrifieddemocracy:theinternetandtheUnitedKingdomParliamentinhistory/AndrewBlick.
Description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2021.|
Series:Lawincontext|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2021005364(print)|LCCN2021005365(ebook)|ISBN9781108473057
(hardback)|ISBN9781108460927(paperback)|ISBN9781108602006(epub)
Subjects:LCSH:GreatBritainParliament–History–20thcentury.|GreatBritainParliament–
History–21stcentury.|Internet–Politicalaspects–GreatBritain.|Democracy–Great
Britain–History–20thcentury.|Democracy–GreatBritain–History–21stcentury.|Great
Britain–Politicsandgovernment–1945–.|BISAC:LAW/Constitutional|LAW/Constitutional
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Contents
Acknowledgements page viii
Introduction: Approach, Literature Review, and Methodology 1
1. The Internet Debate since 1990 44
2. The Permanent Platform: Parliament Online, 1996–2020 78
3. Technology and Transformation: Perspectives up to 1945 117
4. Disillusion and Expectation, 1945–1990 151
5. The Political and Constitutional Context 198
6. Computers, Networks, and Parliament up to 1996 238
7. Pressures, Resistance, and Possibilities in Parliament since 1996 280
8. Promotion and Regulation: Parliamentary Responses to the
Internet since 1996 322
Conclusions 355
Further Reading 366
Index 368
Acknowledgements
As usual, I have accumulated various debts in the writing of this book. The
first is to Finola O’Sullivan, Marianne Nield, and the team at Cambridge
University Press for their support, including during the difficult completion
period in a time of global pandemic. The second is to my colleagues at the
Department of Political Economy and elsewhere in King’s College London.
ThethirdistotheinternationalnetworkofhistorianslinkedtotheHistory&
Policyinitiative.ItwasunderthisbannerthatIworkedwithDrJenniferDoyle
onaliteraturereviewonthesubjectofprintingandParliament.Thefourthis
to the group of constitutionally fascinated people surrounding the
ConstitutionSociety,atwhichEmilyBarrettworkedwithmeonresearchinto
the contemporary Internet. The fifth is to the assorted parliamentarians,
parliamentary clerks, and other internet users with whom I have discussed
andworkedontheissuescoveredinthisbookovertheyears.Thesixth–and
asever–ismyfamily:myparents,KarenBlickandRobinBlick,andmysister,
KatharineBlick.Thethreepeoplewhohavetobearthemostareofcoursemy
two sons, Frederick Blickand GeorgeBlick, and mywife Nicola Blick.
Introduction
Approach, Literature Review, and Methodology
The Internet is the most remarked-upon technology of our time. The
Westminster Parliament lies at the centre of the United Kingdom (UK)
political and legal system. This book explores, in historical context, the
relationship between the two.The subjectisimportant, first,in its own right.
Change in the way in which the UK legislature operates is significant.
Parliament is the primary institution of representative democracy in the UK,
and one of the longest operating and most influential such entities in the
world.Ithas encounterednumerouspriortransformationsinmodes of com-
munication,anditsresponsestothemhavegeneratedmuchcommentasthey
occurred and subsequently. In the context of an ‘uncodified’ or ‘unwritten’
constitution, Parliament possesses supreme legal authority or ‘sovereignty’.
A key focus for public debate, governments are formed out of this body, and
ministers are in turn accountable to it. Parliament – the primary chamber of
which, the House of Commons, is elected – carries out its tasks on behalf of
thepublic.TheInternethasimpacteduponthewayinwhichitfunctionsand
thelegislaturehastakenaninterestinshapingtheenvironmentwithinwhich
this technology operates.
Secondly, the issues with which this work engages form part of a wider
international debate about the consequences of the Internet for society as a
whole.1Atoneextreme,thisdevicecanappearasavehicleformalignends,such
associal manipulation and exploitation. At theother,it isa saviour,as during
thecoronaviruspandemic,whenitprovidedameansfortheswiftdissemination
of vital information, and of overcoming enforced social isolation (yet at the
same time being a conduit for the so-called ‘infodemic’ of misleading asser-
tions2). There are many points in between. A prominent sub-discussion, that
datesbackoverdecadesbutseemstohavegrowninintensityovertime,centres
on the extent to which the Internet is a force supportive of democracy and
meaningfulindividualempowerment,orisinimicaltotheseends.
1 SeeCh.1ofthisvolume.
2 JuliaCarieWong,‘TechGiantsStruggletoStem“Infodemic”ofFalseCoronavirusClaims’,The
Guardian,10April2020,availableat:www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/tech-giants-
struggle-stem-infodemic-false-coronavirus-claims,lastaccessed17September2020.