In Parliamentary Diplomacy in European and Global Governance, 27 experts from all over the world analyse the fast-expanding phenomenon of parliamentary diplomacy. Through a wealth of empirical case studies, the book demonstrates that parliamentarians and parliamentary assemblies have an increasingly important international role. The volume begins with parliamentary diplomacy in Europe, because the European Parliament is one of the strongest autonomous institutional actors in world politics. The study then examines parliamentary diplomacy in relations between Europe and third countries or regions (Mexico, Turkey, Russia, the Mediterranean), before turning attention to the rest of the world: North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia. This pioneering volume confirms the worldwide nature and salience of parliamentary diplomacy in contemporary global politics.
Taking Members of the Israeli Knesset (MKs) as a case study, this book offers a comparative analysis of the various roles performed by Members of Parliament (MPs) within the framework of their job in democracies around the world. Based on the author’s experience of working in and for the Knesset, from 1977 to 2010, this book questions the lack of a comprehensive job description not only for MKs but also for similar roles in parliamentary democracies globally. The author finds that a serious perusal of materials dealing with the job’s various components – in the Israeli case, for example, basic laws, the Knesset Rules of Procedure, the Rules of Ethics for MKs, minutes of the Knesset Plenum and Committees and so forth − presents an almost complete picture of the MK’s job that like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle merely need be assembled together. Finding the job of MPs in general, and of MKs specifically, definable, this book argues that it ought to be defined considering the centrality of this role for a democracy’s functioning. This innovative book will not only prove useful for scholars of Israeli governance and legislation but will also be of interest to scholars of parliamentarism and comparative legislative politics in general.
This broad-ranging text examines the political dynamic of the European Parliament (EP), showing how the EP is a key component of the political system of the EU. It looks at how, and how effectively, the parliament translates citizen demands into policies, and, in so doing, contributes to wider debates around democracy and legitimacy in the EU.
The emergence of a common security and foreign policy has been one of the most contentious issues accompanying the integration of the European Union. In this book, Michael Smith examines the specific ways foreign policy cooperation has been institutionalized in the EU, the way institutional development affects cooperative outcomes in foreign policy, and how those outcomes lead to new institutional reforms. Smith explains the evolution and performance of the institutional procedures of the EU using a unique analytical framework, supported by extensive empirical evidence drawn from interviews, case studies, official documents and secondary sources. His perceptive and well-informed analysis covers the entire history of EU foreign policy cooperation, from its origins in the late 1960s up to the start of the 2003 constitutional convention. Demonstrating the importance and extent of EU foreign/security policy, the book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and policy-makers.