Call for Papers: Studying Parliaments and the Role of Knowledge

Parliaments play fundamental democratic functions including political representation, legitimation of decision-making, and accountability of executive actors. Yet parliaments are also central in mediating relationships between knowledge and democracy. These institutions bring together and juxtapose the opinions, beliefs and values of voters alongside the knowledge and expertise presented by a range of other stakeholders. This means that parliaments sit at the nexus between the collection, construction, aggregation and interpretation of public interests and the mediation of knowledge – of many varieties, kinds and sources – for political and policymaking purposes. Yet how is knowledge used in parliaments? What are the values that underpin knowledge use? And what are the effects of such practices on democratic governance? These are pivotal questions at a time when democratic decision-making has never been more scrutinised and contested. 

Existing scholarship on the relationship between knowledge and democracy rarely focuses on parliamentary institutions. Compounding this gap in the literature, we cannot assume that insights from other settings, such governments and state bodies, will translate into parliamentary settings. Furthermore, previous research on parliaments highlights the distinctive organisational contexts, democratic functions and roles played by parliamentary actors. Such research may be couched within numerous disciplines, including political science, anthropology, sociology, and science and technology studies. However, different approaches do not always engage with each other, missing possibilities for cross-disciplinary learning and opportunities to advance the field.

There is a strong case to be made for further systematic research on the how, where, and why of knowledge use in parliaments. An opportunity exists to reconceptualise parliaments as knowledge institutions involved in the consumption, production, and evaluation of knowledge. This does not argue for a single approach; rather, it allows us to re-frame and integrate different perspectives for a more coherent research agenda around the epistemic role of parliaments in democratic governance. This call for papers promises a significant advance in this direction.

Call for papers

As a part of the Studying Parliaments and the Role of Knowledge (SPARK) project (an ERC-selected/UKRI-funded grant), we are coordinating an edited academic collection on the topic of parliaments and knowledge, aiming for publication in autumn 2027. This may be an edited book or journal special issue. The final format(s) of the edited collection will depend on the number and variety of submissions received - please see further details below, including how to submit your abstract. The edited collection is designed with the explicit goal to bringing together cutting-edge work from a range of research perspectives which betters our understanding of the relationships between parliaments and knowledge.

Proposed papers should explicitly engage in the relationship between parliaments and knowledge. They may examine any parliamentary process(es), practice(s), unit(s) and/or actor(s). As a non-exhaustive list, their thematic focus may include any of the following:

• Practices/processes of knowledge gathering, interpretation, legitimation, production or use.

• Parliamentary and non-parliamentary actors involved in knowledge processes.

• Types or categories of knowledge which flow within parliaments.

• Values and frameworks underpinning how knowledge is interpreted or evaluated.

• Factors (political, institutional etc.) which shape knowledge inputs, synthesis or use. 

• The effects and impacts of knowledge production, contestation, acceptance and use on parliamentary work and/or democratic governance.

• Connections between the study of parliamentary knowledge and broader social and academic debates.

• Methodological advances in studies of parliamentary knowledge flows.

Furthermore, contributions may:

• Focus on single country or policy cases, or take a comparative approach.

• Be theoretical, conceptual, methodological, empirical and/or normative in nature.

• Be from any disciplinary background, provided that they engage with overarching theme of parliaments and knowledge use.

Next steps for an edited collection

It is intended that the edited collection will take the form of an edited book collection and/or a special issue in an authoritative, peer-reviewed journal. The format chosen will depend on the number and variety of abstract submissions received. The objective is to secure publication of the output(s) by Autumn 2027.

As editors, our current priority is an edited book which will offer a 'state of the art' collection on parliaments and knowledge. This would be grouped around a series of themes following the thematic foci of the abstracts received. If a lower number of abstracts are received and/or an additional theme of particular interest emerges, we would consider pursuing a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal as a main or additional option.

As next steps, once abstracts are received we will review these and secure a publisher for an edited book and/or journal special issue. Responsive and timely communication will be maintained with contributing authors throughout the process. Please see our suggested timeline of work below.

Indicative timeframe and key dates

Provided we receive enough interest, we aim to move forward as follows:

3 November 2025: Deadline for abstracts and evaluation by editorial team

5 December 2025: Editorial team to notify colleagues of evaluation process

Oct 2025-Jun 2026: Editorial team to identify and finalise publisher/journal details

May 2026: First draft deadline for all papers

June 2026: SPARK-net workshop – discussion of all drafts submitted

October 2026: Contributors to submit revised and final outputs to editorial team

November 2026: Editorial team to submit all papers to publisher for peer review

Winter 2026-27: Peer review from publisher or journal

Spring 2027: Papers to be revised in line with peer review comments

Autumn 2027: Publication of edited collection and possible launch event

Abstract Submission

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words by 5pm, Monday 3 November 2025. Please indicate in the abstract how the proposed paper connects with the themes of the edited collection. We welcome advance queries if you have any questions. Abstracts should be submitted to Ewan Robertson. If you have any questions or queries, please send these to Ewan and Marc Geddes (our contact details are below). 

Many thanks in advance for considering participation in this edited collection.

Ewan Robertson (ewan.robertson@ed.ac.uk)

Marc Geddes (marc.geddes@ed.ac.uk)