Democracy building in the regional context: Insights from the European Parliament and beyond

Papanagnou, Georgios, Kingah, Stephen and Van Langenhove, Luk (2014). Democracy building in the regional context: Insights from the European Parliament and beyond. UNU-CRIS Policy Brief. The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies.

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UNU-CRIS Policy Briefs

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  • Sub-type Policy brief
    Author Papanagnou, Georgios
    Kingah, Stephen
    Van Langenhove, Luk
    Title Democracy building in the regional context: Insights from the European Parliament and beyond
    Series Title UNU-CRIS Policy Brief
    Volume/Issue No. 4
    Publication Date 2014
    Place of Publication Bruges
    Publisher The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies
    Pages 9
    Language eng
    Abstract International parliamentary institutions (IPIs) are often seen as a valid response to the democratic challenges posed by globalization and regional integration. Following the principles underpinning their national counterparts, IPIs have the potential to contribute to democratization by promoting the representation of affected citizens and by facilitating their incorporation into regional or global governance structures. They can also foster the articulation of popular interests in coherent democratic claims and lead to greater levels of transparency and accountability of international actors. The United Nations University – Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (Int. IDEA) sought to analyze this emerging phenomenon. The questions asked relate to the way IPIs perform as vectors of democratization. What is the status of democracy in regional integration and cooperation processes? Do IPIs play an important role in promoting democratic practices across regions? How can we strengthen international legislative assemblies? The research aimed to answer such questions and to produce tangible policy recommendations for enhancing the democratic performance of IPIs. Taking account of the plethora of mandates, legal frameworks and institutional relations that characterize the various IPIs, the study focused on international parliaments that dealt with regional integration. In particular, we examined comparatively the following parliaments: the European Parliament (EP), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the East African Legislative Assembly of the East African Community (EALA), the MERCOSUR Parliament (PARLASUR) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). A great deal of attention was paid to the EP as the more mature and developed IPI.
    UNBIS Thesaurus DEMOCRACY
    LEGITIMACY OF GOVERNMENTS
    DEMOCRATIZATION
    PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
    LEGISLATIVE POWER
    ACCOUNTABILITY
    REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
    COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
    Copyright Holder United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies
    Copyright Year 2014
    Copyright type Fair use permitted
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    Created: Thu, 10 Dec 2015, 22:07:50 JST by Léonie Maes on behalf of UNU CRIS