Resumen de Building public engagement in small island nations

Frank Feulner, Marine Guéguin

• Research of parliaments regularly focuses on larger, well-known parliaments.Practices of parliaments of small jurisdictions are often overlooked. Thispaper investigates public engagement by parliaments in small island statesand seeks to answer: how effective public engagement is built byparliaments? What are the opportunities for meaningful engagement? Canpublic engagement be possible despite serious resource challenges andother barriers? For effective public engagement to happen, parliamentaryadministrations in these locations need to consider a number of issues andovercome some barriers. Therefore, the paper analyses common contextualthemes, like institutional barriers and sociological issues. The paper presentssuccessful approaches applied by parliaments, as well as tools and practicesthat can be effective in leading to tangible results. The authors argue thateffective public engagement by parliaments in small island states is in factpossible and concludes by providing some significant lessons for legislators,parliamentary staff, and civil society