ONE MOMENT, PLEASE: CAN THE SPEED AND QUALITY OF POLITICAL CONTACT AFFECT DEMOCRATIC HEALTH?

Abstract

Contact between politicians and their constituents is the cornerstone of democracies globally but one that remains relatively under-developed as an area of scholarship. However, in and of itself political contact helps to convey authority, provide legitimacy and facilitate governance. In this talk, we go beyond the arbitrary assumption that representatives need to communicate more with the public and suggest, instead, that the quality of contact matters. Focusing on four processes by which citizens can contact their representatives (face-to-face, by letter, email or social media), we employ an experimental vignette methodology (EVM) to test whether the character and timeliness of politicians’ responses to communications from citizens affects (a) the latter’s satisfaction with political contact and (b) their likelihood to re-contact an elected official. We find that politicians have agency to improve these indicators of democratic health by adjusting the content of their communications.

Bio

Dr Nikki Soo from the University of Sheffield is a political communication scholar with a wide range of interests, especially the integration and impact of digital tools in society, media and culture. She is currently Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Sir Bernard Crick Centre, and previously worked at the University of Manchester on a project that examines knowledge gaps and the role of public service broadcasters in the era of misinformation, in partnership with the BBC. Find out more about her work at www.nikkisoo.com or @sniksw.