Virtually participating: A survey of online party members

Abstract

This article assesses the role of ICTs in the context of membership participation and activism within political parties. It uses an online survey of over 2000 UK Liberal Democrat party members to examine how far the Internet/email can: (1) widen participation within political parties by increasing the size of the membership and attracting new groups to parties; (2) deepen participation by increasing levels of activism within parties. The results of the survey indicate that whilst ICTs may enable parties to reach younger voters and increase levels of activism amongst the already active, the overall impact on participation and internal party democracy is likely to be limited.