Parliamentary Diplomacy Research Articles

Parliamentary Diplomacy

AbstractParliamentarians have for decades been present and active in the international arena. 'Parliamentary diplomacy', however, has only quite recently become the common term used to describe the wide range of international activities undertaken by members of parliament in order to increase mutual understanding between countries, to improve scrutiny of government, to represent their people better, and to increase the democratic legitimacy of inter-governmental institutions. It is perhaps a sign of the times that this term has now been coined. The increased blurring of boundaries between national and foreign affairs means that parliamentarians must consider issues put before them with a global mindset. Correspondingly, the significance of international parliamentary contacts is growing, and it is unlikely to cease to do so in the coming years.

La diplomatie parlementaire au Cameroun: du point d'interrogation au point d'exclamation. Le cas de l'Union Parlementaire Africaine

SUMMARY Parliamentary diplomacy is a living reality in Cameroon. It takes place both upstream and downstream from Cameroon diplomatic activity. Upstream, it is a question of controlling and giving legislative authority for the diplomatic activity of government. Downstream lies the practical conduct of international relations through inter-parliamentary organizations. The president of the parliament heads this practical activity, which is organized by the general secretariat of parliament through its Division de la Coordination et des Relations Internationales (DICRI). One example is participation in the Union Parlementaire Africaine (UPA). Here the role of the Cameroon parliament is all the more important in that it was one of the founders of the UPA. Parliament's involvement in both the work and the creation of this organization is distinguished by the pertinent nature of the proposals made by Cameroon deputies on the issues of peace and democracy in Africa. Such participation has extended to the work of the executive committee of the union in 1978, the conference of presidents in 1989, and the choice of a Cameroon deputy as rapporteur in 1996. The parliament's diplomatic activity complements that of traditional diplomacy. In any case it is appropriate that its work be highlighted and made better known, since, more than ever, governments are yielding ground to international organizations in a world system which is becoming more unified. In this respect the UPA provides an ideal opportunity for the Cameroon parliament.

On the Origins of ‘Parliamentary Diplomacy’

Starting from the observation of a renaissance of the term ‘parliamentary diplomacy’ in practical politics - if with a shift of meaning from parliamentary methods and procedures toward parliamentary agents - this article pleads for a scholarly adaptation of the concept and suggests not to neglect either of these dimensions. Reviewing the history of the League of Nations, in particular its creation and the policies and patterns of delegation and group formation pursued by the Scandinavian countries, the historical interrelation of the aspect of strategic alignment and representative delegation of legislators is shown. International relations theory, in particular constructivist approaches, should note that the twentieth century’s contribution to diplomatic history, meaning the emergence of multilateral diplomacy on a regular basis, is parliamentary not only in regard to the character of its proceedings, but also increasingly in regard to some of the relevant diplomatic agents.

The European Parliament in Comparative International Perspective

The European Parliament (EP) is no longer sui generis but rather an idiosyncratic species filling a unique international-institutional niche. A large number of international parliamentary institutions (IPIs) have formed in Europe in merely in the last decade. Not only is their “parliamentary diplomacy” as an important middle ground between the traditional level of interstate diplomacy and the new level of transnational co-operation amongst grass-roots nongovernmental organizations. Indeed, the actual significance of the phenomenon of IPIs is wide-ranging and growing. They introduce national elites to wider ranges of views and perspectives, particularly in regimes that are not yet fully democratized. IPIs also tend to establish transnational civil-society and nongovernmental relationships that restrain old power-politics patterns. In such a manner they prepare a middle ground for interstate co-operation. The research defines IPIs and studies empirically their worldwide growth since 1945. It reveals the need to elaborate a conceptual framework permitting incorporation of a complex-systems problematique into the study of world society, and it satisfies that need. It presents a typology of IPIs as a framework synthesizing two apparently mutually exclusive taxonomies: one functional, about how IPIs survive; the other epigenetic, about growth. The typology correlates the familiar initiation-takeoff-spillover schema with a hierarchy of epigenetic organizational development (“evolution”) of IPIs. The typology is not teleological but drives the problematique of the research question. The research conceptualizes the organizational performance parameters of a second-order cybernetic system. The conceptual synthesis problematizes relevant theoretical questions, sets the necessary constraints on the research design, and establishes how to code information concerning the development of these organizations. First, communication and information concern the establishment of organizational and cognitive hierarchies. Second, motivation concerns goal definition and realization. Third, spheres of competence especially concern the development of systems to respond to external threat. The approach negates Deutsch’s six “losses” that inhibit organizational learning by transforming them into six capacities for learning. Each such learning capacity is appropriate and requisite to a particular stage of organizational development. The need to embed a complex-systems logic within the world society approach, for the purpose of certain empirical studies, is demonstrated. Autopoiesis, the autonomous setting of self-generated goals as a means to adapt systemically to a changing environment, is a key analytical category for assessing this development of institutions in world society. It is the crucial attribute that marks an organization's successful accomplishment of the developmental stage of take-off, signifying the pro-active undertaking of relations with other organizations. It is the foundation of autonomous motive. Different IPIs come from different political and sociological origins, have different types and spheres of authority according to their respective founding documents, and have different statuses under international law. In contrast to the EP, some IPIs limit a priori the possible scope of their responsibilities and authority, effectively constituting a limit to the development of their international juridical personality. Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the EP's experience lends itself as a template from which other IPIs at various stages of development may borrow such qualities as are useful. In one sense, modern IPIs are only the most recent and recognizable institutionalization of a more general and ancient phenomenon. A distinctive difference, however, is that their density in world society today itself tends catalyze the self-generation of NGOs and inter-NGO networks.

Looking back to see ahead: UNCLOS III and lessons for global commons law

The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) provides valuable lessons for future formulation of law to govern global commons, areas that lie beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and to which all peoples have free and open access. Although endowed with the advantage of a certain degree of scientific certainty about the need for regulation of the ocean environment, UNCLOS III fell victim to a North‐South schism that impaired the search for consensus on important issues and undermined the final product of the negotiations. An examination of the UNCLOS III experience suggests that agreements that exclude specially affected states are unlikely to succeed, and points to a variety of advantages and disadvantages that come from linking several issues under one negotiating framework. The consensus approach to negotiation used at the Conference tends to expand the time and effort needed to reach a successful outcome, which can lead the negotiations themselves to be outstripped by technological or political developments. Finally, the UNCLOS III experience underscores the importance of global ideological and philosophical differences on the allocation of resources and environmental responsibility. Given these lessons, alternatives to the “parliamentary diplomacy”; strategy used at UNCLOS III are suggested, including a framework‐plus‐protocols approach, international coordination of national plans, regional arrangements, and strictly unilateral actions. While the comprehensive parliamentary diplomacy approach is useful because it recognizes the interconnectedness of ecosystems, in many situations one of the other approaches may increase the chance for a successful outcome. Whichever method is chosen, there is an emerging global recognition of the need for some action to be taken by the world community in combatting the destruction of the world's commons areas, which may be a positive sign for the future of environmental negotiations of this sort.

Computer Simulations: Inelegant Mathematics and Worse Social Science? †

Summary The development of three positively evaluated social science computer simulations is reviewed as a basis for comments on current debates about the utility of social simulations: Colby's treatment of neurotic belief dynamics, the Abelson‐Bernstein simulation of fluoridation controversies and Alker's projected computer model of United Nations parliamentary diplomacy. In each case, the non‐analytical nature of the computer model is not due to unusual mathematical ineptitude but derived from evidence contradicting the empirical validity of more elegant formalizations employing, respectively, formal logics and graph theory, differential equation systems, game theory and statistical models. Several analytically challenging problems concerning validity assessment, the nature of deep structure, and the policy‐relevant performance characteristics of complex models are mentioned. Moral, political, philosophical and pedagogical issues derive from the empirically provisional nature of all simulation versions ...

Cyprus and the United Nations: An Appreciation of Parliamentary Diplomacy

1965 was one of the worst years for the United Nations. Its prestige was low; its critics were vocal. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, few world leaders were ready to say that the organization was useless or even in real danger of dissolution. President Johnson's appointment of Mr. Justice Goldberg as UN ambassador- and Mr. Goldberg's acceptance of the position-were among many indications of agreement that the United Nations has something more than ceremonial significance. Of course, the mere continuing existence of any international organization, even the most rudimentary and technically oriented kind, may do good and is unlikely to do harm. The more optimistic will see a developing world community, and, if such a thing is emerging, the United Nations surely has some share in the process. This paper would like to suggest that, apart from any hopes for the future, the United Nations performs a unique and important function for the world to today. Such a tough-minded national leader as Lyndon Johnson, concerned before all else with national self-interest, has indicated his awareness that the organization has a real contribution to make for his nation.

The New Diplomacy and the Quest for Peace

Parliamentary diplomacy in international organization has its roots in the movement toward “diplomacy by conference.” As early as 1928, Frederick S. Dunn could assert:The rapidity with which the conference method has come to the forefront in the conduct of international intercourse is one of the most striking developments in the present era of world affairs. Within the space of a very few years, this method has almost entirely supplanted bilateral diplomatic negotiation in matters of interest to more than two or three nations.

PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY

Journal Article PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY Get access Sydney D. Bailey Sydney D. Bailey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume XVI, Issue 3, March 1962, Pages 308–314, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a054006 Published: 01 March 1962