Parliamentary Diplomacy Division
Parliamentary Diplomacy is an important perspective and alternative form of diplomacy, even if not widely studied yet, developed lately by the increasing role of non-state actors and their enrollment in foreign affairs and international relations issues.
In general, these issues have been considered as an exclusive competence of state actors as the key political actors of the government or executive branch.
At the same time, other forms of diplomacy as for example public diplomacy are considered the main instruments to develop and promote international relations between countries. Parliaments combine features inherent in formal diplomatic channels (the legitimate status) and public diplomacy (voicing popular sentiments and interests, as well as expert opinions). The combination of these features exerts a powerful effect encouraging a vigorous exchange of opinions and collective decision-making at international venues.
The Division brings together a broad network of public diplomats contributing to the achievement of justice for all. It ensures that public diplomats are recognized and heard in improving and supporting transparency in government through public diplomacy tools and in designing, implementing and measuring results of relevant policies everywhere. Under the umbrella of the Division, cooperation among its members will be strengthened, reinforcing the expertise and vision of each of the members to add value and support the work of relevant international organizations. The Division encourages its members in playing a key role towards the achievement of the SDGs, and in particular Goal 17.
The parliamentary diplomacy division of the Institute debates current issues related to the role of non-state actors in diplomacy; develops and promotes tools to prevent and resolve conflicts; supports democratic development in developing countries, and encourages all members of the Institute to take full advantage of diplomacy capabilities.
The Division acts as a space to test, model, and scale successful practices of human rights monitoring, reporting and documentation, and institution-building for cross-regional implementation. At the same time, we synthesise global best practices on the local implementation of human rights, contextualises them for the local level.
The Institut will prioritize proposals that:
Increase the role of non-state actors in improving and supporting transparency in government, including, but not limited to, through public diplomacy tools;
Promote democratic governance and stability by improving the rule of law, civil society capacity and engagement;
Strengthen human capital to promote inclusive economic growth and development via education, civil society and minorities engagement, cultural exchange;
Encourage peaceful dialogue and non-violent conflict resolution.
Objectives
1. Transfer of knowledge
The online platform for parliamentary diplomacy has currently multimedia materials on parliamentary diplomacy, e-learning course, training toolkits (guides, action points, knowledge resources) to facilitate training (gender, climate, budgets, engagement with civil society).
2. Connect the global community of practice:
Bringing parliamentary development partners together with the aim of facilitating discussion and coordination within the sector continues to be an important goal of the Institute.
3. Promote interactive learning
Our e-course aims at strengthening the capacity of parliamentarians and parliamentary staff.
The Institute is open to cooperation and is happy to offer its expertise to all stakeholders in the form of consulting, training, or research.
How to get involved?
Activities in parliamentary diplomacy may focus on broader systemic or regulatory issues, facilitating greater appreciation of the role of non-state actors in public diplomacy and publicizing their critical role in the maintenance of a healthy democracy.
Activities may also focus on providing support on building the capacity of professionals to conduct objective, high-quality reporting through training, workshops, or even the development of new tools to support their work.
Members are encouraged to share their own research and analysis, organize around specific discussions or initiatives, and engage with existing projects, events and research.
Opportunities with the Institute
The Institute welcomes your interest in working with us.
Get in touch with the Team!
For further information please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja or Dr. O. Weretelnik
Parliamentary Engagement Opportunities
The Institute will seize every opportunity to be of service to those of us in the greatest need, such as under-represented, under-served communities and minority groups.
We consider it the greatest privilege to be of service.
In the Institute, we believe that parliaments have a special responsibility to ensure that groups that are underrepresented, face disadvantage or are newly arrived in a country can participate in democratic processes.
We encourage parliamentarians and political parties to use our evidence to support their contributions in relevant debates and, ask important questions to the government.
Find out more about how we plan to engage with parliamentarians as we strive to deliver positive change and amplify the voices of public diplomats in parliaments.
While still a core component of international relations, state-to-state diplomacy has evolved into a multi-actor and multi-level phenomenon. Among diplomatic actors, the Institute considers parliaments and diaspora communities as legitimate and democratic players.
The OECD has developed eight models to consider for implementation for institutionalising representative public deliberation to improve collective decision-making:
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1. Combining a permanent citizens’ assembly with one-off citizens’ panels
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2. Connecting representative public deliberation to parliamentary committees
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3. Combining deliberative and direct democracy
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4. Standing citizens’ advisory panels
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5. Sequenced representative deliberative processes throughout the policy cycle
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6. Giving people the right to demand a representative deliberative process
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7. Requiring representative public deliberation before certain types of public decisions
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8. Embedding representative deliberative processes in local strategic planning
Non-state actors engagement in policy process through public diplomacy tools
Tools for the self‐assessment of parliamentary diplomacy capacity
The tools aim to assist Members of Parliament, NGOs, and other interested users to evaluate the performance of their parliament in the field of parliamentary diplomacy.
With access to these tools developed by the Institute and from a large network of our partners, parliamentarians benefit from a greater potential to contribute to a country’s democratization process.
Online courses for udges, prosecutors and lawyers are free and hosted on the HELP online platform
The Institut has signed a letter of intent with ALDRAP
(2023)
Civil society monitoring
More info
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