PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

An effective parliament (II): Parliament’s involvement in international affairs I 155
7. An effective parliament (II) :
Parliament’s involvement
in international affairs
The previous chapter identified two different though related aspects of
parliamentary power – its capacity or capacities and its relational standing to
the Executive – and showed how both were important to parliament’s
effectiveness in holding the government to account. In this chapter another
dimension of power will be added to the equation: its territorial reach.
Historically, parliaments have had scant involvement in international
affairs. This was hardly surprising in the days when international affairs were
largely confined to one country’s relations with others, which were handled by
the executive branch of government through frequently secret diplomatic
channels. Of course, many parliaments have had an important role to play in
ratifying agreements that emerged from such diplomatic efforts, but matters
were largely left there, with the exception of a few countries, like the United
States of America and Mexico, where the Senate exercises a prominent role in
foreign affairs. The advent of the twentieth century brought about change in
two important yet very different ways.
First, it was the century that saw the birth of international or multilateral
cooperation. Faced with the realisation that nations are interdependent, the
international community established a large number of international organisations.
It was a trend that gathered great momentum. There are organisations
with competence in almost every area of human activity: human and
social rights, employment policies, trade liberalisation, financial transactions,
environmental standards, and a great many others. These institutions
are international negotiating fora where government representatives adopt
decisions and treaties. For almost all of these agreements, the vast majority
of parliaments were never consulted during the negotiations. They were
simply invited to ratify the agreement and adopt and amend laws to
implement them.
Second, the twentieth century saw the emergence of regional integration
processes for a variety of reasons, not least that the countries concerned
aspired to unity to overcome historical divisions and secure regional stability
and peace, were convinced that “there is strength in unity”, realised that
nations inevitably belong to a “community” and were desirous of taking