Update (January 2016): The “forthcoming book” referenced by the BBC has now come. I’m pleased to say that Political Turbulence, published by Princeton University Press is now available. The book brings together a lot of the research I have contributed to on collective action and mobilization.
In collaboration with Helen Margetts and Taha Yasseri I have collected information on petitions and signature activity for various online platforms since 2009. The BBC covered some of our research about the previous UK government petition platform that was active from 2011-2015:
Online petitions need to attract large numbers of signatures on their first day if they are to stand any chance of success, researchers have said.
In a forthcoming book, a research team from Oxford University will show that 99.9% of e-petitions fail to reach the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger the prospect of a Commons debate.…Read more
