Introduction

The interest shown towards international parliamentary institutions (IPIs) and towards the role of parliaments in international affairs is constantly growing, alongside the expansion of their number, functions and importance within the international relations of a globalizing world. IPIs can be either attached to an international organization or can constitute themselves; they can be either treaty-based institutions or informal networks of parliamentarians, whose members act in their private capacity; they can be either appointed by national legislatures or directly elected by universal suffrage. The dominant argument is that the rise of international governance and institutions, while helping states to respond collectively to problems that they cannot resolve effectively by themselves, is inevitably eroding their sovereignty. This occurs by essentially reducing the policy-making autonomy of national institutions in favour of global processes and actors, and by weakening traditional democratic accountability mechanisms centred on national parliaments. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.