About the book
Parliaments risk becoming the main losers of internationalisation; a process that privileges executives and experts. Still, parliamentarians have developed a range of responses to catch up with international decision-making: they coordinate their actions with other parliamentarians; engage in international parliamentary forums; and some even opt to pursue political careers at the supranational level, such as in the European Parliament.
This volume provides a thorough empirical examination of how an internationalising context drives parliamentarians to engage in inter-parliamentary coordination; how it affects their power positions vis-à-vis executive actors; among themselves; and in society in general.
Furthermore, building upon these empirical insights, the book assesses whether parliamentary democracy can remain sustainable under these changing conditions. Indeed, if parliaments are, and remain, central to our understanding of modern democracy, it is of crucial importance to track their responses to internationalisation, the fragmentation of political sovereignty, and the proliferation of multilevel politics.
Deliberation in the multilevel parliamentary field
In his chapter, Ian Cooper gives a first empirical review of the Early Warning Mechanism, the main new measure provided by the Lisbon Treaty to strengthen national parliaments' powers in the EU. He does so on the basis of the most notable case so far: the Seasonal Workers Directive. Have national parliaments used their new powers under to exert influence over policy deliberation at the EU level? Secondly, have the interventions of national parliaments influenced policy deliberations in the European Parliament more than in other EU institutions?
Chapter Four: Deliberation in the Multilevel Parliamentary Field: The Seasonal Workers Directive as a Test Case
Ian Cooper
Parliamentary wasteland or parliamentary field?
Christopher Lord in his chapter analyse interparliamentary coordination in a wider theoretical context and also raise some critical issues. He reviews the academic etymology of the Bourdieuian notion of a political field and hightlights the risks in adopting this notion. At the same time, Lord relates the analysis of parliaments in Europe to the debate about the democratic deficit of the EU and proposes a specific standard of legitimacy against which their performance is to be assessed: a) public control, on the basis of b) political equality, and with c) individual rights to justification.
Chapter Fourteen: The European Union: Parliamentary Wasteland or Parliamentary Field?
Christopher Lord
Full info
Practices of Inter-Parliamentary Coordination in International Politics: The European Union and Beyond
Ben Crum and John Erik Fossum (eds)
ECPR Press, 2013
ISBN: 9781907301308