Open parliaments : technological enactment in state legislatures

TL;DRAbstract

This thesis starts with a simple research question, asking why parliaments that share the same level of functions and competencies produce different results in terms of the level of development of their websites. The research is divided into three stages: comparative website analysis, quantitative analysis and case studies. Looking at 93 state Legislatures in Brazil, Spain and the United States,
\neach of the stages of the research presents findings that contribute to the literature on e-democracy and open government. The comparative website analysis shows a varying degree of development amongst state Legislature websites. This heterogeneous level of development is contrasted with a common denominator amongst most websites: while the majority of efforts are towards the provision of Legislative information, the prospects for participation and deliberation are extremely limited. Standing out against these rather predictable results, findings also suggest that certain institutional tr

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