Political but not partisan: Marketing parliaments and their members

Parliaments are difficult institutions to market and promote to their publics, partly because of their political nature and their institutional complexity. However, because good promotion requires a good ‘product’, thinking about parliaments in terms of their promotion can also focus attention helpfully on how they are actually structured and operated, thereby contributing to the improvement in their effectiveness, both internally and in relation to the wider polity. The Westminster and Scottish Parliaments can be usefully and conveniently compared and contrasted, both in terms of their parliamentary product, and in its promotion. such a comparative analysis highlights some of the defining characteristics of an effective parliament, such as an underlying vision and purpose, substantive institutional autonomy (especially in relation to the executive), and genuine public engagement. It also emphasises that both the operation and the promotion of a parliament are multi-layered tasks for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff.