Explaining the Emergence of International Parliamentary Institutions: The Case of the Benelux Interparliamentary Consultative Council

Abstract

Almost all international organisations have a parliamentary assembly. Generally, these parliaments lack legislative powers. This article aims to explain the spread of these powerless parliaments by an in-depth study of the emergence of the Benelux Interparliamentary Consultative Council; this was one of the first international parliaments and therefore it avoids isomorphic explanations. Archival evidence is used to study motivations and preferences of governments and MPs and how these were translated in the creation of the Benelux Parliament. The evidence suggests that MPs successfully pressured the rather reluctant governments to create a parliamentary organ. MPs demanded a parliament because they regarded the intergovernmental cooperation as a degradation of parliamentary democracy.