Hub of diplomacy

Shooting the breeze, not each other - one could say that was the key principle behind the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) when it was founded in 1889 by English union organizer William Randal Cremer and French pacifist Frederic Passy. The two envisioned a forum in which members of Parliaments could come together for discussions in spite of cultural differences and conflicts.

Since the IPU's founding, there have been two World Wars and innumerable armed conflicts, but the organization has remained firm in its belief that discussion can promote peace and security, even when political tensions are at their highest.

The event's latest chapter will unfold during its semi-annual meeting from March 31 to April 5 in Uganda's capital Kampala. The central topic at the congress will be the relationship between parliamentary representatives and citizens in an era in which communication has been made easier and more direct than ever, and in which the desire for direct democracy as well as the expectations for elected representatives are both high.

A world parliament?

Worldwide there are more than 46,000 parliamentarians, and 159 national parliaments belong to the IPU. Their diverse representatives meet twice each year, offering a chance "for parliamentarians to engage in discourse without regard to their party membership, to negotiate and to come to agreements," said IPU General Secretary Anders B. Johnson.

The contacts established at the IPU are of great significance, agreed Norbert Lammert, president of the Germany's parliament known as the Bundestag.

"Their contribution to international cooperation should not be underestimated, and we need such cooperation today more and more urgently," Lammert said. Yet he also stressed that the IPU is not a kind of world parliament, in which legally binding resolutions are reached.

Johnson compared the event to plenary meetings at the UN in which resolutions are passed without becoming international law, but in which decisions and developments are nonetheless possible.

Many parliaments see the IPU as their only avenue for establishing direct contact to members of parliament in other countries or even to forge alliances despite enmity that may exist between states. For example, South Korea lobbied hard to include North Korea in the organization, arguing that it represented one of the very few chances for the two countries to have direct political dialogue.

Peace treaties and cease-fires have also been negotiated at the inter-parliamentary talks. Johnson pointed to the example of Iraq and Iran during the 1980s, in which representatives from both parliaments began working on first drafts of a ceasefire during the IPU conference. A second example came by way of Argentina and Great Britain in the wake of the Falklands War of 1982. The two nations took steps to resume diplomatic relations at an IPU meeting and finally restored diplomatic ties in 1989.

Building democracy

One important area of work at the IPU is developing democratic and parliamentary standards - for instance in countries that have seen recent conflict or a change of political systems. The IPU can offer help in organizing elections or raising awareness of the significance of political opposition in parliament. Johnson sees that as one of the major achievements of the organization - promoting democracy by way of well-functioning parliamentary bodies.

The West tends to see congresses of elected representatives as the place in which the will of the people finds its expression, where laws are passed and where politicians are held to account. However, it's clear to the democratic member states of the IPU that not all of their fellow members share their views. For many, the IPU represents a chance to impart the values of democracy.

But Lammert isn't comfortable ascribing that role to Germany.

"First of all, political systems cannot be exported," Lammert told DW. "Second of all, it's evidently wrong that Germany - of all places, with its complicated trajectory toward rule of law and democracy - could serve as the world's teacher when it comes to being a model of democratic standards."

Room to grow

Even countries with secure parliamentary traditions turn to the IPU to see whether they could structure their work more efficiently and effectively. Ireland did so recently. The Geneva-based IPU organization issued a catalogue of criteria that can be used to evaluate parliaments and help them optimize their activities.

The measures it recommends, however, depend on whether the political will exists to implement them. Nonetheless, the IPU's General Secretary Johnson says that the number of parliaments who have sought such organizational advice is very high.

In the attempt to structure parliamentary work so that it has more of a direct effect on voters' lives, the IPU worked together with the United Nations Development Program to commission a landmark report on world parliaments, set to be presented at the spring session. One more reason to pay attention as the discussions unfold in Kampala.

Author: Sabine Hartert-Mojdehi / gsw
Editor: Anke Rasper