Parliamentary networks in transnational economic governance

Abstract

Economic globalization results in blurring the clear boundary between the internal space of national politics and the international political space. At the same time, autonomous trans-governmental networks, which include representatives of national executive bodies, become central to the international political process. This process lacks a conclusive democratic dimension; it has no necessary checks and balances. In this regard, it is especially important to involve national parliaments in overseeing multilateral negotiations, as well as to increase their participation in the implementation of the arrangements reached. In this context, the article considers some forms of engaging parliaments in global economic governance (through the examples of WTO, IMF and the World Bank) and in regional integration (a case of the European Union). The author states that the control of national parliaments over the activities of their own governments in global/ regional arenas of regulation remains irregular and patchy. Yet, based on the idea of deliberative democracy and the notions of transnational networks and multilevel governance, the analysis confirms that in different international venues national parliaments are being endowed with new roles, while transnational interparliamentary formations are gradually acquiring manifold functions of their own. Becoming an attribute of the institutional structure of international organizations and regional groupings, the transnational parliamentary component helps to harmonize national regulatory norms, to conciliate documents, to do the groundwork for dialogue, and to provide additional mechanisms for promoting integrative initiatives and decisions. However, with higher levels of integration, all that becomes insufficient, in which case there arises a need for legislative functions to be performed (i.e. a supranational parliament has to be established).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2018-2-5-20