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Citizen-centred or state-centred? The representational design of International Parliamentary Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2020

Thomas Winzen  and
Jofre Rocabert Open the ORCID record for Jofre Rocabert [Opens in a new window]
Thomas Winzen
Affiliation:
Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
Jofre Rocabert*
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

As a result of the spread of International Parliamentary Institutions (IPIs), international organisations face crucial questions of representational design. We introduce a distinction between citizen-centred and state-centred IPIs in international organisations (IO). Drawing on original data, we show that, even though parliaments might seem likely to foster citizen representation in the international realm, they in fact often follow state-centred representational designs. We further find that citizen-centred IPIs are a near exclusive phenomenon of a few, democratic regional integration projects. Given the prevalence of state-centred representational designs, we conclude that IPIs’ potential to represent different cross-border communities, concerns, and conflict lines than intergovernmental IO bodies remains institutionally limited. IPIs are thus unlikely to challenge these bodies in similar ways as often observed in the relationship between the European Parliament and the European Union's Council of Ministers.

Keywords

International OrganisationsInternational Parliamentary InstitutionsLegitimationAuthorityPurpose
Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 128 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British International Studies Association

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73 As noted earlier, for this reason some scholars might prefer to refer to the IPIs in our study as international parliamentary organs to underline their affiliation to an IO, but the more widely known term, IPI, while being more general, remains accurate nonetheless.

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102 The scale of the decision-making authority index is: (0) no formal rights; (1) information about IO agenda; (2) obligatory consultation; (3) right to a response to consultation; (4) veto rights; (5) exclusive IPI decision. In the appendix we provide further detail on this indicator.

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111 Parlamento do Mercosul, ‘No hubo acuerdo para la aprobación de Protocolo constitutivo de Parlamento de UNASUR’, Parlamento del Mercosur (2010), available at: {https://www.parlamentomercosur.org/innovaportal/v/4174/2/parlasur/no-hubo-acuerdo-para-la-aprobacion-de-protocolo-constitutivo-de-parlamento-de-unasur.html} accessed 21 September 2020; Los Tiempos, ‘Bolivia gastó Bs 470 millones en Parlamento que Unasur no usa’, Los Tiempos (27 April 2018), available at: {http://www.lostiempos.com/actualidad/pais/20180427/bolivia-gasto-bs-470-millones-parlamento-que-unasur-no-usa} accessed 21 September 2020.

112 Lisanda Paraguassu and Daniela Desantis, ‘Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay y Perú suspenden participación en bloque Unasur’, Reuters (20 April 2018), available at: {https://lta.reuters.com/articulo/topnews/idltakbn1hr2j3-ouslt} accessed 21 September 2020; Télam Agency, ‘Uruguay abandona la Unasur’, La Nación (10 March 2020), available at: {https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/uruguay-abandona-unasur-nid2341906} accessed 21 September 2020.

113 Senado Federal do Brasil, ‘Reativado Parlamento Amazônico para evitar desmatamentos e queimadas’, TV Senado (21 February 2020), available at: {https://www12.senado.leg.br/tv/programas/argumento/2020/02/reativado-parlamento-amazonico-para-evitar-desmatamentos-e-queimadas}accessed 21 September 2020.

114 Marshall, Polity V Project.

115 Michael Coppedge et al., ‘V-Dem [Country–Year/ Country/Date] Dataset v10’.