| Institution: | Correspondence: * Cristina Leston-Bandeira is with the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK (e.mail: C.C.Leston-Bandeira{at}hull.ac.uk) Previous versions of this article were presented at the International Political Science Association 20th World Congress, Japan, June 2006 and at the 7th Workshop for Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians, UK, July 2006. The author is very grateful for the financial support given by the Centre for Legislative Studies, the Research and the Staff Development Committees of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, from the University of Hull, without which the participation in those conferences would not have been possible. The author is grateful for the comments received at both conferences. Part of this article is based on research supported financially by the Institute of Applied Ethics, University of Hull, for which the author is very thankful. Special thanks also to Lenni Montiel who, unknowingly, has prompted many of the reflections included in this article. Finally, the author is particularly grateful to Rosa Vicente-Merino for her work in collating the data and for many stimulating discussions on the topic. The author is also thankful to the participants of the workshop Parliaments in the Digital Age, Oxford, June 2007, funded by the British Academy, who helped to consolidate some of the ideas developed in this article. |
