United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
Encyclopedia
A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) is a proposed addition to the United Nations System
that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually, direct election
of United Nations
(UN) parliament
members by citizens worldwide. The idea was raised at the founding of the League of Nations
in the 1920s and again following the end of World War II in 1945, but remained dormant throughout the Cold War
. In the 1990s and 2000s, the rise of global trade and the power of world organizations that govern it led to calls for a parliamentary assembly
to scrutinize their activity. The Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly was formed in 2007 to coordinate pro-UNPA efforts, which as of February 2009 has received the support of over 600 Members of Parliament
from over 90 countries worldwide.
Supporters have set forth possible UNPA implementations, including promulgation of a new treaty; creation of a UNPA as a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly; and evolution of a UNPA from the Inter-Parliamentary Union or another nongovernmental organization. Several proposals for apportionment of votes have been raised to address disparities in UN members' population and economic power. CEUNPA advocates initially giving the UNPA advisory powers and gradually increasing its authority over the UN system. Opponents cite issues such as funding, voter turnout, and undemocratic UN member nations as reasons for abandoning the project altogether.
founders considered (and rejected) plans to include a people's assembly as part of the League's structure. League and UN founding documents include few mechanisms for direct participation by citizens or legislators, aside from Article 71 provision allowing ECOSOC to grant consultative status
to certain organizations, and the Chapter XVIII and XIX requirements that ratification and amendments be approved by member states "in accordance with their respective constitutional processes" which typically involve legislative and/or public input. In 1945, a people's world assembly was proposed by British politician Ernest Bevin
, who said in the House of Commons
that "There should be a study of a house directly elected by the people of the world to whom the nations are accountable."
On 16 October 1945, before the UN Charter had even entered into force, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts and former New Hampshire Governor Robert P. Bass
held a conference in Dublin, New Hampshire
, which passed the Dublin Declaration. It stated that the UN Charter was inadequate to preserve peace and proposed the transformation of the U.N. General Assembly into a world legislature
, opining, "Such a government should be based upon a constitution under which all peoples and nations will participate upon a basis of balanced representation which will take account of natural and industrial resources and other factors as well as population. It cannot be based on treaties...in which the states...act and vote as states". It called for "limited but definite and adequate power for the prevention of war." Grenville Clark
and other participants in the Dublin conference went on to become active in the United World Federalists (UWF) and the global World Federalist Movement
. UWF enjoyed some success in the postwar period, as 23 state legislatures passed bills supporting the organization’s goals, but McCarthyism
prompted many prominent members to resign lest Senator Joseph McCarthy ruin their careers. In the United States, internationalism
came to be associated with communism.
In the post-Cold War
era, several factors contributed to a more favorable environment for UNPA proposals. A Trilateral Commission
report notes that the shift from a world led by the two rival Soviet- and U.S.-led blocs meant a general diffusion of power. Growth of economic interdependence, proliferation of transnational actors, nationalism in weak states, spread of technology, and increasing numbers of issues (such as global environmental problems and weapons of mass destruction
containment) that are both domestic and international generated stronger incentive to develop international cooperation than ever before. Democracy in general had spread; in 2003, Freedom House
counted 121 electoral democracies, compared to 66 in 1987 and 30 in 1975 (although by the mid-2000s, the trend appeared to have stagnated). The rapidly integrating European Union, a unique supranational body whose European Parliament was gradually growing in power, provided an example to the world of how a multi-nation parliament can evolve and function. The World Trade Organization
and similar organizations generated great concern as they seemed to be gaining more influence and control over trade disputes, yet were not accountable to the people; U.S. President Bill Clinton
opined, "We must insist that international trade organizations be open to public scrutiny instead of mysterious, secret things subject to wild criticism." A "new diplomacy
" seemed to be taking shape in which NGOs
and governments cooperated to create new global institutions such as the International Criminal Court
. U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy Chairman Harold C. Pachios of Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios noted:
In early 1993, the Canadian House of Commons
Standing Committee on External Affairs and International Trade presented a report stating, "By way of building the public and political constituency for the United Nations, the Committee recommends that Canada support the development of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly." The Campaign for a Democratic United Nations (CAMDUN), the International Network for a United Nations Second Assembly
(INFUSA), and the Global People's Assembly Movement (GPAM), began circulating UNPA proposals around 1995, and other organizations, such as One World Trust
, began publishing analyses of how to proceed in the current political situation. On 8 February 2005, on the initiative of the Committee for a Democratic UN, 108 Swiss Parliamentarians signed an open letter to the Secretary-General calling for the establishment of just such a body. On 14 May 2005, the Congress of the Liberal International
issued a resolution stating that "the Liberal International calls on the member states of the United Nations to enter into deliberations on the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations." On 9 June 2005, the European Parliament
issued a resolution that contained an item stating that Europarl "calls for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) within the UN System, which would increase the democratic profile and internal democratic process of the organisation and allow world civil society to be directly associated in the decision-making process; states that the Parliamentary Assembly should be vested with genuine rights of information, participation and control, and should be able to adopt recommendations directed at the UN General Assembly; [...]" In 2006, Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly
circulated a petition to UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to "convene a High Level Panel to determine the steps required for the establishment of a Peoples' Parliamentary Assembly within the United Nations Organization"
In April 2007, international NGOs launched the International Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, the principal current movement for the establishment of a UNPA. Its Secretariat is led by the Committee for a Democratic U.N. Over 150 civil society groups and more than 550 parliamentarians from all over the world are taking part in the Campaign. As of November 2008, CEUNPA's appeal was endorsed by around 2400 signatories from over 120 countries, among them hundreds of parliamentarians, civil society leaders, leading academics and distinguished individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
, the President of the Pan-African Parliament, Gertrude Mongella
, Academy Award winner Emma Thompson
, SF-author Sir Arthur C. Clarke
and Edgar Mitchell, former NASA astronaut and sixth human being to walk on the moon. On 25 September 2007, the statement by H.E. Mr. José Sócrates
, Prime Minister of Portugal
, on behalf of the European Union
, at the United Nations 62nd Session of the General Assembly, General Debate, stated, "We remain committed to the reform of its main bodies in order to enhance the Organization's representativity, transparency and effectiveness." On 24 October 2007, the Pan African Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations, noting, "in contrast to regional international bodies such as the African Union
, the European Union, the Council of Europe, or Mercosur
, the United Nations and its
specialized organizations is one of the last international fora lacking an integrated and institutionalized Parliamentary Assembly." CEUNPA's Conference for the Establishment of a Global Coalition for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is envisaged to take place in 2008.
One of the most influential and well-known pro-UN organizations, UNA-USA has been on both sides of the issue. In 2003, UNA-USA's executive director of policy studies, Jeffrey Laurenti, wrote an article, An Idea Whose Time Has Not Come, arguing that there were important unresolved issues of inclusivity, authority, and efficiency with the UNPA. UNA's position seemed to reverse in November 2006, when the 38th plenary session of the World Federation of United Nations Associations
issued a resolution stating that it "Supports the establishment of a United Nations parliamentary Assembly as a consultative body within the United Nations system as a voice of the citizens; Calls upon the governments of the United Nations member states, parliamentarians and civil society representatives to jointly examine possible steps and options to create a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly."
According to Stefan Marschal, the post-World War II years, particularly the 1980s and 1990s, saw tremendous growth in parliamentary assemblies, with more than 40 established since 1949. About 42% of the world's parliamentary assemblies are formally affiliated with an intergovernmental organization; 32% are informally affiliated; and 26% are unaffiliated. The spread in parliamentary assemblies was spurred by acceptance of parliamentarism as a means of legitimizing decisions; initiatives for intergovernmental cooperation reaching a point at which stronger parliamentary backing was needed; and regional integration. However, many global organizations, such as the UN and WTO, still lack a parliamentary assembly and "have been heavily criticized for what is supposed to be an institutional deficit."
On February 9, 2010, a resolution of an international conference of sitting and former judges of the supreme courts of over 30 countries that took place in Lucknow, India, called for a revision of the United Nations Charter and for the establishment of a world parliament.
Amending the UN Charter, possibly through a Charter Review Conference under Article 109 of the UN Charter, is a commonly cited possibility. This is difficult because it requires ratification by two-thirds of UN members, including all five permanent members of the Security Council
. There have been only five amendments to the UN Charter since 1945, and none of them were done through the Article 109 process. Louis Sohn and Grenville Clark
, in their 1958 book World Peace Through World Law
, proposed establishing a UN Parliamentary Assembly through this method.
Another possibility is establishing the UNPA as a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly. The General Assembly has authority to do this under Article 22 of the UN Charter. Erskine Childers
and Sir Brian Urquhart
endorsed this approach in their 1994 book, Renewing the United Nations System. The Committee for a Democratic UN also recommended the establishment of UNPA by Article 22 or by transformation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in its report, Developing International Democracy. In 2006, the Council of Europe
passed a resolution noting, "A decisive step towards the development of a UN parliamentary dimension could be the establishment of an experimental parliamentary committee with consultative functions for General Assembly committees."
It also can be based on the Community of Democracies
.
Yet another option is to create the UNPA as a nongovernmental organization of democratically elected legislators. This would have the advantage of not requiring the cooperation of (sometimes dictatorial) national governments or world parliamentary organizations with dictatorial members, so only democratic legislators, parliaments and countries would be represented. The World Constitution and Parliament Association
and other NGOs have attempted to set up workable parliaments. Heinrich critiqued this approach by saying, "If it did succeed on any scale, it would divert resources from pressuring governments on thousands of specific issues, which citizens are good at, into the operation of a pan-global institutional structure, which citizens' groups are ill equipped to do...And the resulting assembly would always be of doubtful legitimacy (who does it really represent?) and of unlikely value as an evolutionary starting point for a real world parliament."
A UNPA could be created through a stand alone treaty. This would have the advantage that as few as 20 or 30 economically and geographically diverse countries could establish a UNPA, and it could expand as more countries ratified the treaty. Strauss notes that this is the method by which most international bodies, such the World Health Organization
, International Labour Organization
, and International Criminal Court
, were founded. The way to get started presumably would be to hold a conference of plenipotentiaries to draft the treaty; then the ratification process would begin.
It might also be possible to use and/or transform the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which was granted observer status
in 2002. The IPU's Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliament adopted a resolution stating, "We would greatly welcome more substantive interaction and coordination with the United Nations, and call upon the world body to resort more frequently to the political and technical expertise which the IPU together with its Member Parliaments can provide." Many national parliaments are currently not members of the IPU. Moreover, it is uncertain that the IPU itself would be supportive of such a proposal; a 2005 article by IPU Secretary-General Anders B. Johnsson
opined, "It makes little practical or political sense to set up a separate parliamentary assembly alongside the existing governmental General Assembly." Indeed, the Inter-Parliamentary Union seems to favor a reformed IPU as a substitute for a UNPA, saying, "The Union had the necessary experience, and further bureaucracy should be avoided."
notes that precedents for this idea include the British Parliament, French Estates-General, U.S. Congress, and Europarl, which are all systems in which, over time, power shifted to directly elected officials: "In the past, fledgling democracy has always had to compromise with the realities of power and evolve step-by-step, where possible. This is often accomplished in the form of a 'non-democratic' additional house in the parliamentary structure. Thus, in Britain, the necessity of compromise of the 'common people' with the powers and interests of the armed and titled nobility necessitated a bicameral system incorporating the House of Lords
, as well as the House of Commons
. The French Estates-General included similar power blocs as 'estates' or functional separate houses, and the United States Senate reflected a necessary compromise of the interests of less populous states hesitant to subject themselves to 'democratic inundation' by the more populous states."
World federalists often point out that a democratic union of peoples, rather than governments, is suggested by the opening words of the Preamble to the United Nations Charter
, "We the peoples ..." This sentiment was expressed by Theo van Boven
, who said, "A more democratic United Nations as envisaged by the campaign for a UN Parliament will strengthen the legitimacy of We the peoples of the United Nations in whose name the UN Charter was proclaimed." According to the Committee for a Democratic UN, "The UNPA concept is the a first step towards a democratic world parliament". World federalists typically view an empowered democratic assembly as a means of preventing war by providing everyone a peaceful means of pursuing their political objectives. Walter Cronkite
, for instance, said, "Within the next few years, we must change the basic structure of our global community from the present anarchic system of war and ever more destructive weaponry to a new system governed by a democratic U.N. federation."
But there is some opposition to the idea of an empowered global parliament. A 2007 BBC
poll of approximately 12,000 respondents asked, "How likely would you be to support a Global Parliament, where votes are based on country population sizes, and the global parliament is able to make binding policies?" Of those polled, 19.1% responded "Very unlikely–it is a bad idea"; 14.9% responded "Quite unlikely–but it might work"; 23.1% said "Quite likely–but with reservations"; and 14.4% said "Very likely–it is a good idea". The poll was broken out by country, and the U.S. and Australia showed the strongest opposition. Potential challenge to the UNPA are political organizations such as the U.S. Constitution Party, and politicians such as 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul
, which favor withdrawal from the United Nations
and other multilateral organizations altogether due to sovereignty
concerns. Canadian Action Party
leader Connie Fogal
also opposes the UNPA, saying, "It is very revealing to see the NDP
and the Greens
as part of and promoting this...Further, the European assembly has proven to be a rubber stamping mechanism of bureaucratic decisions. This is not democracy." In addition, a Civicus article warns, "With an unexpected backlash against civil society
in the offing (despite the good efforts of the UN General Assembly President, Jan Eliasson
, to reverse the trend), citizen participation at the UN is diminishing quickly. It would be safe to assume that Member States as a whole are not in the mood to consider a Parliamentary Assembly at this time."
Herbert W. Briggs points out that while a UNPA could be established as a UNGA subsidiary body without any changes to international law
, granting it the power to pass binding legislation would require UN Charter amendment or a new treaty. The UNGA plays a role in admitting, suspending and expelling UN members, approving the budget, and electing members to other UN bodies, but its powers as set forth in Chapter IV of the UN Charter are mostly advisory in nature. These include the power to "discuss," "make recommendations," "consider," "call the attention of the Security Council to situations," "initiate studies," "receive...reports," etc., as well as "establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions." The Charter contains no provision allowing the UNGA to delegate any powers it does not itself possess. And while Article 25 states, "The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council," there is no requirement that members abide by the recommendations of the UNGA. On the other hand, Article 13(1)(a) of the Charter tasks the UNGA with "encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification."
According to Oscar Schachter
, there is some question as to whether the traditional international lawmaking process of state-by-state treaty ratification is adequate today: "The traditional case-by-case process of customary law cannot meet the necessity for common action to deal with the numerous problems raised by technological developments, demographic and environmental impacts, changing attitudes as to social justice, or the many requirements of international business. While all of these matters can be dealt with by multilateral treaties, the treaty processes are often complicated and slow, whereas UN resolutions can be more readily attained." The Law of the Sea
is an example of an agreement that has taken decades to pass in the U.S. (although the Cato Institute
views the delay as a good thing.) George Monbiot
opines, "The absence of an international legislature undermines the authority of an international judiciary (such as the proposed criminal court). Judges presiding over the war-crimes tribunals at the Hague
and in Arusha
have been forced, in effect, to make up the law as they go along."
Proposals to give the UNGA legislative power–including the "binding triad
" idea which would have made UNGA resolutions binding if passed by countries comprising a supermajority of the world's states, population, and economic production–have made little headway. According to Heinrich, once the UNPA is established, it will be easier to gather support for empowering it. The assembly's own members can be expected to play a major role in pushing for its evolution by seeking a UN Charter amendment to make it a "principal organ" in parallel with the General Assembly. With their political know-how, their access to the highest levels of their national governments, and their credibility with the
world public and the media, the politicians in the UN Parliamentary Assembly can be expected to become a strong and persistent political force for organizing the assembly's eventual transformation.
spent more than $1.8 billion of public money in 2005 and its own auditors have pointed out that it lacks adequate internal controls to protect against waste, fraud and mismanagement. By holding hearings, issuing reports, and passing resolutions, the UNPA could exercise oversight over other UN bodies. In a September 2007 press release, MEP Graham Watson
expressed his hope that "in an era where the UN's mandate has grown exponentially the UNPA would act as a watch-dog on its activities, monitoring its decision-making deadlines, its accountability and transparency". London Mayor
Ken Livingstone
opined, "a more democratic United Nations as envisaged by this campaign will strengthen the accountability and legitimacy of the UN." The Pan African Parliament's resolution mirrored this sentiment: "If democratization is a major means to legitimize and improve national governance, it is also the most reliable way to legitimize and improve international organization, making it more open and responsive by increasing participation."
Canadian Senator
Douglas Roche
, O.C., argues in The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly that even an indirectly elected UNPA consisting of delegates appointed by national parliaments could create additional checks and balances by providing for oversight by a parliamentary body that would be independent of member nations' executive branches. It would open up the global policymaking process to a larger group of elected officials by shifting some power from the relatively small executive branches of countries to the larger legislative branches. According to Roche, globalization
has tended to increase the power of the executive branch while marginalizing the legislative branch; for instance, U.S. Presidents since George H. W. Bush
have been given fast track
authority to negotiate trade agreements, subject to a "yea or nay" scrutiny by the U.S. Congress on the negotiated deal. A Property and Environment Research Center
report argues that changes in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are another example of how international regulation
removes checks and balances between the branches of government: "The OECD was created by a 1961 treaty
, ratified by the U.S. Senate, to help achieve economic growth. In April 1998, a ministerial meeting reinterpreted the treaty, adding social and environmental considerations to the economic ones. The United States executive branch agreed to the changes, but the Senate had no opportunity to debate this treaty, even though it was significantly different from the 1961 treaty. The executive branch had essentially negotiated a new deal without Senate approval." World Federalist Canada Briefing Paper No. 30, however, suggests that UNPA proposals may spark opposition from the executive branches that stand to lose power: "Experience has shown that civil servants and diplomats working in national foreign ministries are less likely to support or see the need for a UNPA. They view the UN as a forum for discussion among sovereign states; whatever action the UN takes is a result of bargaining and compromise among member states".
A significant practical obstacle to a completely democratically elected and representative UNPA is that, in contrast to the situation in which the European Parliament functions, a significant number of UN members, including populous countries such as China are not electoral democracies. In the past, bodies such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
were criticized for being dominated by abusive regimes. If UNPA representatives were to be drawn from member nations' parliaments, it could create legitimacy concerns since some national legislatures are regarded as a rubber stamp
for the rulers' decrees. Some global parliament proponents, such as Prof. Lucio Levi, propose starting a federation limited to democracies: "Though the democratization of states all over the world hasn’t been completed, this does not preclude starting the democratization of the UN. Six Western European countries founded the European Community, starting its democratization without waiting for the democratization of the institutions of all the European states." UNA-USA's Jeff Laurenti notes the problems associated with excluding undemocratic countries from membership: "It is one thing to deny membership to a few small "rogue" dictatorships. It is quite another to exclude China, the vast majority of Arab countries, and two-thirds of Africa, and imagine that the resulting body can have a formal consultative or oversight role with United Nations agencies, be part of UN-sponsored negotiations on multilateral conventions (the real work of international legislating), or pass on the resolutions of UN political bodies."
UNPA proponents frequently counter by pointing out that most of the world's countries are democratic.
survey showed that a strong majority of parliamentary respondents thought that the public would support the idea of a UN Parliamentary Assembly, but they were less sure the public would be prepared to finance it. The analysis pointed out, "The possibility of a greater financial burden to support an enlarged UN is unlikely to evoke support unless it can be demonstrated that the return on investment is significant. Citizens are often known to express lofty globalist sentiments when questioned on general principles, and to surrender them when costs or trade offs are concerned." A 1995 United Nations University
report claimed, "it is difficult to see how the Parliamentary Assembly would be able to pay for the salaries and travel of what could be over 1,000 representatives; this proposal could increase the duplication and waste that already exist within multilateral bodies."
CEUNPA's response to this objection is that "it is true that a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations would be another player in the diplomatic scenery which governments and their executives in international organizations would have to take into account to a certain degree. On the other hand, being composed of elected parliamentarians, the assembly would be closer to the citizens and as such it would lend more credibility and legitimacy to international decisions in which it is involved. In this way, the parliamentary assembly actually would contribute to an increased efficiency of international action."
–an assembly of parliamentarians from their respective countries' legislatures–and then change to a directly elected body. This would be similar to the evolution of the European Parliament. Beginning with the European Common Assembly's founding in 1952, MEPs
were appointed by each of the Member States' national parliaments; in 1979, direct election was instituted. Sen. Douglas Roche, O.C., in The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, analyzes the tradeoffs between the two choices. A UNPA based on existing parliamentarians may be easier to establish, because it avoids several hurdles, such as decisions on electoral cycles, a universally acceptable electoral body, legitimacy of elections, and so on: "A body comprising national parliamentarians has the 'stamp of approval' built-in. National parliamentarians can claim electoral legitimacy in their own right. Admittedly, the credibility of domestic franchised can be called into question, but the trend toward democracy has been strengthening rapidly." National parliamentarians also generally have staff and money, which could ease the funding issues associated with forming a new world parliamentary assembly. Delegates to a directly elected UNPA, on the other hand, would have more time to devote to the global assembly, since its members would not be occupied with duties relating to their membership in their national legislature. Heinrich points out strategic advantages of an indirectly elected UNPA: "Another advantage to basing representation in a UN Parliamentary Assembly on national parliaments is that it may engage parliamentarians as allies in the cause of getting the assembly established, and, later, helping to build the political will for its evolution. The experience of being a UN parliamentarian will galvanize many of these politicians into going home as advocates for the UN, including the need for strengthening and democratizing the UN Parliamentary Assembly itself."
Heinrich also notes the possibility that national parliaments could appoint citizen representatives to the UNPA, similarly to how the U.S. Electoral College officially selects the President. This would be a stopgap solution until direct election became possible. Yet it would still ensure that citizens would be electing citizens (albeit indirectly), rather than the executive appointing officials, to the UNPA.
A global parliamentary assembly could be structured to give populous states greater influence. The one state, one vote rule of the UN General Assembly gives small states a disproportionate amount of influence over the UN system. In Entitlement quotients as a vehicle for United Nations reform, University of Minnesota
professor emeritus Joseph E. Schwartzberg
notes, "The sixty-four least populous members–enough to block a two-thirds majority vote–comprise less than one percent of the world's total population! And, in theory, the 127 least populous members, accounting for barely eight percent of humanity, are enough to provide the two-thirds majority needed to pass a substantive resolution." He continues this point in his essay, Overcoming Practical Difficulties in Creating a World Parliamentary Assembly:
There are several alternate proposals for apportionment of votes among member nations.
Schwartzberg's weighted voting
formula takes into account population (the democratic/demographic principle), contribution to the UN budget (the economic principle), and share of the total membership. The idea of weighting countries' votes according to their financial contribution to the organization is not unprecedented, as the World Bank
, International Monetary Fund
and other Bretton Woods
institutions use this method.
The Provisional People's Assembly
's methodology gives each nation Population Seats based on a calculation that combines the Penrose method
, Economic Seats equal to its portion of the world's total gross domestic product
, and classification as Free, Partially Free, or Unfree by Freedom House
.
Under one person, one vote, each country's number of votes is directly proportional to its population. This would be similar to how U.S. state
s are represented in the United States House of Representatives
. In The Future of Sovereignty - Rethinking a Key Concept of International Relations, Hasenclever et al. sum up the advantages and disadvantages of this system: "In a strict meaning of democracy based on individuals as subjects, every person's vote would have to have exactly the same weight. None of the known proposals, however, supports such a strict interpretation, because the inequality among the states' voting powers would be extreme with only four countries - China, India, the United States and the former USSR - disposing of an absolute majority."
The Penrose method
takes the square root
of the millions of inhabitants in each country.
certain minimum requirements, such as proportional representation
, that each member country must abide by to be represented. Schwartzberg proposes a professional election commission
"to ensure that assembly elections are carried out, to the maximum extent, on a level playing field". Under Schwartzberg's proposal, the commission would have several powers, including the authority to establish rules of fairness, determine in advance whether fairness criteria were being met, and foreclose polling where those criteria were not met. He proposes criteria that an election must meet to be considered valid, such as minimum participation rates that initially could be set as low as 20%, and gradually increased.
United Nations System
The United Nations system consists of the United Nations, its subsidiary organs , the specialized agencies, and affiliated organizations...
that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually, direct election
Direct election
Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the...
of United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN) parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
members by citizens worldwide. The idea was raised at the founding of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
in the 1920s and again following the end of World War II in 1945, but remained dormant throughout the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. In the 1990s and 2000s, the rise of global trade and the power of world organizations that govern it led to calls for a parliamentary assembly
Parliamentary assembly
A parliamentary assembly can mean one of the following:*National Parliament, a type of state legislative assembly body*Assembly of national parliaments, an inter-parliamentary institution of state national legislatures...
to scrutinize their activity. The Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly was formed in 2007 to coordinate pro-UNPA efforts, which as of February 2009 has received the support of over 600 Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
from over 90 countries worldwide.
Supporters have set forth possible UNPA implementations, including promulgation of a new treaty; creation of a UNPA as a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly; and evolution of a UNPA from the Inter-Parliamentary Union or another nongovernmental organization. Several proposals for apportionment of votes have been raised to address disparities in UN members' population and economic power. CEUNPA advocates initially giving the UNPA advisory powers and gradually increasing its authority over the UN system. Opponents cite issues such as funding, voter turnout, and undemocratic UN member nations as reasons for abandoning the project altogether.
History
Proposals for a parliamentary assembly in the global organization of nations date back to at least the 1920s, when League of NationsLeague of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
founders considered (and rejected) plans to include a people's assembly as part of the League's structure. League and UN founding documents include few mechanisms for direct participation by citizens or legislators, aside from Article 71 provision allowing ECOSOC to grant consultative status
Consultative Status
Consultative Status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council." Also some international organizations could...
to certain organizations, and the Chapter XVIII and XIX requirements that ratification and amendments be approved by member states "in accordance with their respective constitutional processes" which typically involve legislative and/or public input. In 1945, a people's world assembly was proposed by British politician Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
, who said in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
that "There should be a study of a house directly elected by the people of the world to whom the nations are accountable."
On 16 October 1945, before the UN Charter had even entered into force, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts and former New Hampshire Governor Robert P. Bass
Robert P. Bass
Robert Perkins Bass was an American farmer, forestry expert, and Republican politician from Peterborough, New Hampshire. He served in both houses of the New Hampshire Legislature and as chairman of the state's Forestry Commission before being elected governor of New Hampshire in 1910...
held a conference in Dublin, New Hampshire
Dublin, New Hampshire
Dublin is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,597 at the 2010 census. It is home to both the Dublin School and Yankee Magazine.-History:...
, which passed the Dublin Declaration. It stated that the UN Charter was inadequate to preserve peace and proposed the transformation of the U.N. General Assembly into a world legislature
World government
World government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
, opining, "Such a government should be based upon a constitution under which all peoples and nations will participate upon a basis of balanced representation which will take account of natural and industrial resources and other factors as well as population. It cannot be based on treaties...in which the states...act and vote as states". It called for "limited but definite and adequate power for the prevention of war." Grenville Clark
Grenville Clark
Grenville Clark was the writer of the book World Peace Through World Law...
and other participants in the Dublin conference went on to become active in the United World Federalists (UWF) and the global World Federalist Movement
World Federalist Movement
The World Federalist Movement is a global citizens movement with member and associate organizations around the world. The WFM International Secretariat is based in New York City across from the United Nations headquarters...
. UWF enjoyed some success in the postwar period, as 23 state legislatures passed bills supporting the organization’s goals, but McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
prompted many prominent members to resign lest Senator Joseph McCarthy ruin their careers. In the United States, internationalism
Internationalism (politics)
Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...
came to be associated with communism.
In the post-Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
era, several factors contributed to a more favorable environment for UNPA proposals. A Trilateral Commission
Trilateral Commission
The Trilateral Commission is a non-governmental, non-partisan discussion group founded by David Rockefeller in July 1973 to foster closer cooperation among the United States, Europe and Japan.-History:...
report notes that the shift from a world led by the two rival Soviet- and U.S.-led blocs meant a general diffusion of power. Growth of economic interdependence, proliferation of transnational actors, nationalism in weak states, spread of technology, and increasing numbers of issues (such as global environmental problems and weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
containment) that are both domestic and international generated stronger incentive to develop international cooperation than ever before. Democracy in general had spread; in 2003, Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
counted 121 electoral democracies, compared to 66 in 1987 and 30 in 1975 (although by the mid-2000s, the trend appeared to have stagnated). The rapidly integrating European Union, a unique supranational body whose European Parliament was gradually growing in power, provided an example to the world of how a multi-nation parliament can evolve and function. The World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
and similar organizations generated great concern as they seemed to be gaining more influence and control over trade disputes, yet were not accountable to the people; U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
opined, "We must insist that international trade organizations be open to public scrutiny instead of mysterious, secret things subject to wild criticism." A "new diplomacy
New diplomacy
New diplomacy is international relations in which citizens play a greater role. Under the old diplomacy, global policymaking was more strictly the purview of governments. New diplomacy began to be observed in the 1990s amidst easing tensions in the wake of the Cold War and streamlined communication...
" seemed to be taking shape in which NGOs
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
and governments cooperated to create new global institutions such as the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
. U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy Chairman Harold C. Pachios of Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios noted:
In early 1993, the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
Standing Committee on External Affairs and International Trade presented a report stating, "By way of building the public and political constituency for the United Nations, the Committee recommends that Canada support the development of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly." The Campaign for a Democratic United Nations (CAMDUN), the International Network for a United Nations Second Assembly
International Network for a United Nations Second Assembly
The International Network for a United Nations Second Assembly, or INFUSA, is an organization devoted to the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly...
(INFUSA), and the Global People's Assembly Movement (GPAM), began circulating UNPA proposals around 1995, and other organizations, such as One World Trust
One World Trust
The One World Trust promotes education and research into changes required in global governance to achieve the eradication of poverty, injustice, environmental degradation and war. It develops recommendations on practical ways to make powerful organisations more accountable to the people they affect...
, began publishing analyses of how to proceed in the current political situation. On 8 February 2005, on the initiative of the Committee for a Democratic UN, 108 Swiss Parliamentarians signed an open letter to the Secretary-General calling for the establishment of just such a body. On 14 May 2005, the Congress of the Liberal International
Liberal International
Liberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...
issued a resolution stating that "the Liberal International calls on the member states of the United Nations to enter into deliberations on the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations." On 9 June 2005, the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
issued a resolution that contained an item stating that Europarl "calls for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) within the UN System, which would increase the democratic profile and internal democratic process of the organisation and allow world civil society to be directly associated in the decision-making process; states that the Parliamentary Assembly should be vested with genuine rights of information, participation and control, and should be able to adopt recommendations directed at the UN General Assembly; [...]" In 2006, Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly
Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly
Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly is an organization seeking reform of the United Nations through its "Campaign to Empower the UN". A major goal of the group is the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly...
circulated a petition to UN Secretary-General
Secretary-General
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
Kofi Annan to "convene a High Level Panel to determine the steps required for the establishment of a Peoples' Parliamentary Assembly within the United Nations Organization"
In April 2007, international NGOs launched the International Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, the principal current movement for the establishment of a UNPA. Its Secretariat is led by the Committee for a Democratic U.N. Over 150 civil society groups and more than 550 parliamentarians from all over the world are taking part in the Campaign. As of November 2008, CEUNPA's appeal was endorsed by around 2400 signatories from over 120 countries, among them hundreds of parliamentarians, civil society leaders, leading academics and distinguished individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...
, the President of the Pan-African Parliament, Gertrude Mongella
Gertrude Mongella
Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella was the first president of the Pan-African Parliament.-Early work:...
, Academy Award winner Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
, SF-author Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
and Edgar Mitchell, former NASA astronaut and sixth human being to walk on the moon. On 25 September 2007, the statement by H.E. Mr. José Sócrates
José Sócrates
José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH , commonly known by José Sócrates , is a Portuguese politician who was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011....
, Prime Minister of Portugal
Prime Minister of Portugal
Prime Minister is the current title of the chief of the Portuguese Government. As chief executive, the Prime Minister coordinates the action of ministers, representing the Government from the other organs of state, accountable to Parliament and keeps the President informed...
, on behalf of the European Union
President of the European Council
The President of the European Council is a principal representative of the European Union on the world stage, and the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council...
, at the United Nations 62nd Session of the General Assembly, General Debate, stated, "We remain committed to the reform of its main bodies in order to enhance the Organization's representativity, transparency and effectiveness." On 24 October 2007, the Pan African Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations, noting, "in contrast to regional international bodies such as the African Union
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
, the European Union, the Council of Europe, or Mercosur
Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...
, the United Nations and its
specialized organizations is one of the last international fora lacking an integrated and institutionalized Parliamentary Assembly." CEUNPA's Conference for the Establishment of a Global Coalition for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is envisaged to take place in 2008.
One of the most influential and well-known pro-UN organizations, UNA-USA has been on both sides of the issue. In 2003, UNA-USA's executive director of policy studies, Jeffrey Laurenti, wrote an article, An Idea Whose Time Has Not Come, arguing that there were important unresolved issues of inclusivity, authority, and efficiency with the UNPA. UNA's position seemed to reverse in November 2006, when the 38th plenary session of the World Federation of United Nations Associations
World Federation of United Nations Associations
The World Federation of United Nations Associations was created in 1946, inspired by the opening words of the United Nations Charter "We the Peoples". Today it is a global network of people linked together through United Nations Associations in over 100 member states of the United Nations...
issued a resolution stating that it "Supports the establishment of a United Nations parliamentary Assembly as a consultative body within the United Nations system as a voice of the citizens; Calls upon the governments of the United Nations member states, parliamentarians and civil society representatives to jointly examine possible steps and options to create a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly."
| Name | First session | Direct election |
| Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an... |
1949 | N/A |
| European Parliamentary Assembly | 1952 | 1979 |
| Assembly of WEU Assembly of WEU The Assembly of the Western European Union was an assembly for delegations from the national parliaments of the member countries of the Western European Union , a security and defence organisation... |
1955 | N/A |
| NATO Parliamentary Assembly NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Karl A... |
1955 | N/A |
| Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE | 1992 | N/A |
| Arab Parliament Arab Parliament At the Arab League Summit of 2001-Amman, the Arab states agreed to create an Arab Parliament, and came up with a resolution to give the Secretary General of the Arab League the power to start and create the Parliament... |
2001 | N/A |
| Pan African Parliament | 2004 | N/A |
| Mercosur Parliament Mercosur Parliament The Mercosur Parliament is the parliamentary institution of the Mercosur trade bloc. It is composed of 81 MPs, 18 from each member states of the bloc – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – and 9 from applying member Venezuela... |
2007 | 2014 (planned) |
According to Stefan Marschal, the post-World War II years, particularly the 1980s and 1990s, saw tremendous growth in parliamentary assemblies, with more than 40 established since 1949. About 42% of the world's parliamentary assemblies are formally affiliated with an intergovernmental organization; 32% are informally affiliated; and 26% are unaffiliated. The spread in parliamentary assemblies was spurred by acceptance of parliamentarism as a means of legitimizing decisions; initiatives for intergovernmental cooperation reaching a point at which stronger parliamentary backing was needed; and regional integration. However, many global organizations, such as the UN and WTO, still lack a parliamentary assembly and "have been heavily criticized for what is supposed to be an institutional deficit."
On February 9, 2010, a resolution of an international conference of sitting and former judges of the supreme courts of over 30 countries that took place in Lucknow, India, called for a revision of the United Nations Charter and for the establishment of a world parliament.
Implementation
There are six main options for creating a U.N. Parliamentary Assembly, according to various assessments.Amending the UN Charter, possibly through a Charter Review Conference under Article 109 of the UN Charter, is a commonly cited possibility. This is difficult because it requires ratification by two-thirds of UN members, including all five permanent members of the Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
. There have been only five amendments to the UN Charter since 1945, and none of them were done through the Article 109 process. Louis Sohn and Grenville Clark
Grenville Clark
Grenville Clark was the writer of the book World Peace Through World Law...
, in their 1958 book World Peace Through World Law
World Peace Through World Law
World Peace Through World Law, first published in 1958, was a book by Louis B. Sohn and Grenville Clark proposing a Revised United Nations Charter...
, proposed establishing a UN Parliamentary Assembly through this method.
Another possibility is establishing the UNPA as a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly. The General Assembly has authority to do this under Article 22 of the UN Charter. Erskine Childers
Erskine Childers (UN)
Erskine Barton Childers was a writer, BBC correspondent and United Nations senior civil servant. He was the eldest son of Erskine Hamilton Childers and Ruth Ellen Dow Childers...
and Sir Brian Urquhart
Brian Urquhart
Sir Brian Urquhart, KCMG, MBE is a former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations. He is also a World War II veteran and an author.-Early life:...
endorsed this approach in their 1994 book, Renewing the United Nations System. The Committee for a Democratic UN also recommended the establishment of UNPA by Article 22 or by transformation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in its report, Developing International Democracy. In 2006, the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
passed a resolution noting, "A decisive step towards the development of a UN parliamentary dimension could be the establishment of an experimental parliamentary committee with consultative functions for General Assembly committees."
It also can be based on the Community of Democracies
Community of Democracies
The Community of Democracies is an intergovernmental organization of democracies and democratizing countries with a stated commitment to strengthening and deepening democratic norms and practices worldwide...
.
Yet another option is to create the UNPA as a nongovernmental organization of democratically elected legislators. This would have the advantage of not requiring the cooperation of (sometimes dictatorial) national governments or world parliamentary organizations with dictatorial members, so only democratic legislators, parliaments and countries would be represented. The World Constitution and Parliament Association
World Constitution and Parliament Association
The World Constitution and Parliament Association was established in 1958 by Professor Philip Isely and his wife Margaret Isely of Denver, Colorado, USA, to create a Constitution for a Federation of Earth and to promote democratic world government under that Constitution.It was soon joined by Dr....
and other NGOs have attempted to set up workable parliaments. Heinrich critiqued this approach by saying, "If it did succeed on any scale, it would divert resources from pressuring governments on thousands of specific issues, which citizens are good at, into the operation of a pan-global institutional structure, which citizens' groups are ill equipped to do...And the resulting assembly would always be of doubtful legitimacy (who does it really represent?) and of unlikely value as an evolutionary starting point for a real world parliament."
A UNPA could be created through a stand alone treaty. This would have the advantage that as few as 20 or 30 economically and geographically diverse countries could establish a UNPA, and it could expand as more countries ratified the treaty. Strauss notes that this is the method by which most international bodies, such the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
, International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
, and International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
, were founded. The way to get started presumably would be to hold a conference of plenipotentiaries to draft the treaty; then the ratification process would begin.
It might also be possible to use and/or transform the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which was granted observer status
Observer status
Observer status is a privilege granted by some organizations to non-members to give them an ability to participate in the organization's activities. Observer status is often granted by intergovernmental organizations to non-member states and international nongovernmental organizations that have...
in 2002. The IPU's Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliament adopted a resolution stating, "We would greatly welcome more substantive interaction and coordination with the United Nations, and call upon the world body to resort more frequently to the political and technical expertise which the IPU together with its Member Parliaments can provide." Many national parliaments are currently not members of the IPU. Moreover, it is uncertain that the IPU itself would be supportive of such a proposal; a 2005 article by IPU Secretary-General Anders B. Johnsson
Anders B. Johnsson
Anders B. Johnsson is a Swedish jurist, the current Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union .- Biography :Johnsson was born in Lund, Sweden...
opined, "It makes little practical or political sense to set up a separate parliamentary assembly alongside the existing governmental General Assembly." Indeed, the Inter-Parliamentary Union seems to favor a reformed IPU as a substitute for a UNPA, saying, "The Union had the necessary experience, and further bureaucracy should be avoided."
Powers
The CEUNPA proposes that the UNPA's begin as a consultative body whose powers could be augmented as it evolved into a directly elected assembly: "Step by step, it should be provided with genuine rights of information, participation and control vis-à-vis the UN and the organizations of the UN system." An article in the Asian-Pacific Law & Policy JournalAsian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal
The Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal is an open-access biannual journal published by the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii...
notes that precedents for this idea include the British Parliament, French Estates-General, U.S. Congress, and Europarl, which are all systems in which, over time, power shifted to directly elected officials: "In the past, fledgling democracy has always had to compromise with the realities of power and evolve step-by-step, where possible. This is often accomplished in the form of a 'non-democratic' additional house in the parliamentary structure. Thus, in Britain, the necessity of compromise of the 'common people' with the powers and interests of the armed and titled nobility necessitated a bicameral system incorporating the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, as well as the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. The French Estates-General included similar power blocs as 'estates' or functional separate houses, and the United States Senate reflected a necessary compromise of the interests of less populous states hesitant to subject themselves to 'democratic inundation' by the more populous states."
World federalists often point out that a democratic union of peoples, rather than governments, is suggested by the opening words of the Preamble to the United Nations Charter
Preamble to the United Nations Charter
The Preamble to the United Nations Charter is the opening of the United Nations Charter.-History:Jan Smuts originally wrote the opening lines of the Preamble as, "The High Contracting Parties, determined to prevent a recurrence of the fratricidal strife which twice in our generation has brought...
, "We the peoples ..." This sentiment was expressed by Theo van Boven
Theo van Boven
Theo van Boven is a Dutch jurist and professor emeritus in international law.In 1977 he was appointed director of the United Nations' Division for Human Rights....
, who said, "A more democratic United Nations as envisaged by the campaign for a UN Parliament will strengthen the legitimacy of We the peoples of the United Nations in whose name the UN Charter was proclaimed." According to the Committee for a Democratic UN, "The UNPA concept is the a first step towards a democratic world parliament". World federalists typically view an empowered democratic assembly as a means of preventing war by providing everyone a peaceful means of pursuing their political objectives. Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, for instance, said, "Within the next few years, we must change the basic structure of our global community from the present anarchic system of war and ever more destructive weaponry to a new system governed by a democratic U.N. federation."
But there is some opposition to the idea of an empowered global parliament. A 2007 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
poll of approximately 12,000 respondents asked, "How likely would you be to support a Global Parliament, where votes are based on country population sizes, and the global parliament is able to make binding policies?" Of those polled, 19.1% responded "Very unlikely–it is a bad idea"; 14.9% responded "Quite unlikely–but it might work"; 23.1% said "Quite likely–but with reservations"; and 14.4% said "Very likely–it is a good idea". The poll was broken out by country, and the U.S. and Australia showed the strongest opposition. Potential challenge to the UNPA are political organizations such as the U.S. Constitution Party, and politicians such as 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, which favor withdrawal from the United Nations
Withdrawal from the United Nations
Withdrawal from the United Nations by member states is not provided for in the United Nations Charter. According to the Government Information Office of the Republic of China :...
and other multilateral organizations altogether due to sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
concerns. Canadian Action Party
Canadian Action Party
The Canadian Action Party is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposes neoliberal globalization and free trade agreements.- Background :The Canadian Action Party was founded by Paul T...
leader Connie Fogal
Connie Fogal
Constance Fogal is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. A lawyer and former teacher, Fogal lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where her late husband Harry Rankin was a long time progressive city councillor. She is an anti-globalization activist and was an opponent of the...
also opposes the UNPA, saying, "It is very revealing to see the NDP
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
and the Greens
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...
as part of and promoting this...Further, the European assembly has proven to be a rubber stamping mechanism of bureaucratic decisions. This is not democracy." In addition, a Civicus article warns, "With an unexpected backlash against civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
in the offing (despite the good efforts of the UN General Assembly President, Jan Eliasson
Jan Eliasson
Jan Kenneth Eliasson is a Swedish diplomat and Social Democratic politician.- Biography :Jan Eliasson was born in a working-class family in Gothenburg. He was an AFS exchange student in Indiana, United States, from 1957 to 1958 and was commissioned reserve officer after military training at the...
, to reverse the trend), citizen participation at the UN is diminishing quickly. It would be safe to assume that Member States as a whole are not in the mood to consider a Parliamentary Assembly at this time."
Herbert W. Briggs points out that while a UNPA could be established as a UNGA subsidiary body without any changes to international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, granting it the power to pass binding legislation would require UN Charter amendment or a new treaty. The UNGA plays a role in admitting, suspending and expelling UN members, approving the budget, and electing members to other UN bodies, but its powers as set forth in Chapter IV of the UN Charter are mostly advisory in nature. These include the power to "discuss," "make recommendations," "consider," "call the attention of the Security Council to situations," "initiate studies," "receive...reports," etc., as well as "establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions." The Charter contains no provision allowing the UNGA to delegate any powers it does not itself possess. And while Article 25 states, "The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council," there is no requirement that members abide by the recommendations of the UNGA. On the other hand, Article 13(1)(a) of the Charter tasks the UNGA with "encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification."
According to Oscar Schachter
Oscar Schachter
Oscar Schachter was an American international law and diplomacy professor, and United Nations aide.Schachter was a native of New York City, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from City College of New York in 1936, and from Columbia Law School, where he was a Kent scholar and first in his class of 1939...
, there is some question as to whether the traditional international lawmaking process of state-by-state treaty ratification is adequate today: "The traditional case-by-case process of customary law cannot meet the necessity for common action to deal with the numerous problems raised by technological developments, demographic and environmental impacts, changing attitudes as to social justice, or the many requirements of international business. While all of these matters can be dealt with by multilateral treaties, the treaty processes are often complicated and slow, whereas UN resolutions can be more readily attained." The Law of the Sea
Law of the sea
Law of the sea may refer to:* United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea* Admiralty law* The Custom of the Sea...
is an example of an agreement that has taken decades to pass in the U.S. (although the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
views the delay as a good thing.) George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
opines, "The absence of an international legislature undermines the authority of an international judiciary (such as the proposed criminal court). Judges presiding over the war-crimes tribunals at the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
and in Arusha
Arusha
Arusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...
have been forced, in effect, to make up the law as they go along."
Proposals to give the UNGA legislative power–including the "binding triad
Binding Triad
The Binding Triad is a proposal to amend the United Nations Charter to allow the United Nations General Assembly to pass binding resolutions with the approval of a supermajority of members. For a resolution to be binding, it would require the support of nations:*Comprising a majority of members of...
" idea which would have made UNGA resolutions binding if passed by countries comprising a supermajority of the world's states, population, and economic production–have made little headway. According to Heinrich, once the UNPA is established, it will be easier to gather support for empowering it. The assembly's own members can be expected to play a major role in pushing for its evolution by seeking a UN Charter amendment to make it a "principal organ" in parallel with the General Assembly. With their political know-how, their access to the highest levels of their national governments, and their credibility with the
world public and the media, the politicians in the UN Parliamentary Assembly can be expected to become a strong and persistent political force for organizing the assembly's eventual transformation.
Legitimacy and accountability
One of the main purposes for the creation of a UNPA is enhancing UN accountability and legitimacy. The United Nations SystemUnited Nations System
The United Nations system consists of the United Nations, its subsidiary organs , the specialized agencies, and affiliated organizations...
spent more than $1.8 billion of public money in 2005 and its own auditors have pointed out that it lacks adequate internal controls to protect against waste, fraud and mismanagement. By holding hearings, issuing reports, and passing resolutions, the UNPA could exercise oversight over other UN bodies. In a September 2007 press release, MEP Graham Watson
Graham Watson
Sir Graham Robert Watson is a European politician from the United Kingdom. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament for South West England since 1994 and was leader of the liberal group in Parliament for seven years between 2002 and 2009.-Early life:Graham Watson was born in Rothesay...
expressed his hope that "in an era where the UN's mandate has grown exponentially the UNPA would act as a watch-dog on its activities, monitoring its decision-making deadlines, its accountability and transparency". London Mayor
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
opined, "a more democratic United Nations as envisaged by this campaign will strengthen the accountability and legitimacy of the UN." The Pan African Parliament's resolution mirrored this sentiment: "If democratization is a major means to legitimize and improve national governance, it is also the most reliable way to legitimize and improve international organization, making it more open and responsive by increasing participation."
Canadian Senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
Douglas Roche
Douglas Roche
Douglas James Roche, OC, KCSG is a former Canadian politician, He served as Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Edmonton—Strathcona from 1972 to 1979 and for Edmonton South 1979-1984. In 1984, he was appointed Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament, a position he held until 1989...
, O.C., argues in The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly that even an indirectly elected UNPA consisting of delegates appointed by national parliaments could create additional checks and balances by providing for oversight by a parliamentary body that would be independent of member nations' executive branches. It would open up the global policymaking process to a larger group of elected officials by shifting some power from the relatively small executive branches of countries to the larger legislative branches. According to Roche, globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
has tended to increase the power of the executive branch while marginalizing the legislative branch; for instance, U.S. Presidents since George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
have been given fast track
Fast Track
Fast Track is an informal English phrase meaning "the quickest and most direct route to achievement of a goal, as in competing for professional advancement".Fast Track may also refer to:* Fast Track, a FoxBusiness.com show hosted by Anna Gilligan...
authority to negotiate trade agreements, subject to a "yea or nay" scrutiny by the U.S. Congress on the negotiated deal. A Property and Environment Research Center
Property and Environment Research Center
The Property and Environment Research Center, or PERC, is a free market environmentalist think tank based in Bozeman, Montana, United States. Established in 1982 as the Political Economy Research Center, PERC is dedicated to original research on market approaches to resolving environmental problems...
report argues that changes in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are another example of how international regulation
International regulation
International regulation is regulation that occurs at the international level, often exercised by international organizations. An advantage of international regulation is that it allows localities and the individuals in them to be held accountable for the impact their actions have on other...
removes checks and balances between the branches of government: "The OECD was created by a 1961 treaty
Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is the 1960 treaty that transitioned the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development...
, ratified by the U.S. Senate, to help achieve economic growth. In April 1998, a ministerial meeting reinterpreted the treaty, adding social and environmental considerations to the economic ones. The United States executive branch agreed to the changes, but the Senate had no opportunity to debate this treaty, even though it was significantly different from the 1961 treaty. The executive branch had essentially negotiated a new deal without Senate approval." World Federalist Canada Briefing Paper No. 30, however, suggests that UNPA proposals may spark opposition from the executive branches that stand to lose power: "Experience has shown that civil servants and diplomats working in national foreign ministries are less likely to support or see the need for a UNPA. They view the UN as a forum for discussion among sovereign states; whatever action the UN takes is a result of bargaining and compromise among member states".
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...
were criticized for being dominated by abusive regimes. If UNPA representatives were to be drawn from member nations' parliaments, it could create legitimacy concerns since some national legislatures are regarded as a rubber stamp
Rubber stamp (politics)
A rubber stamp, as a political metaphor, refers to a person or institution with considerable de jure power but little de facto power; one that rarely disagrees with more powerful organs....
for the rulers' decrees. Some global parliament proponents, such as Prof. Lucio Levi, propose starting a federation limited to democracies: "Though the democratization of states all over the world hasn’t been completed, this does not preclude starting the democratization of the UN. Six Western European countries founded the European Community, starting its democratization without waiting for the democratization of the institutions of all the European states." UNA-USA's Jeff Laurenti notes the problems associated with excluding undemocratic countries from membership: "It is one thing to deny membership to a few small "rogue" dictatorships. It is quite another to exclude China, the vast majority of Arab countries, and two-thirds of Africa, and imagine that the resulting body can have a formal consultative or oversight role with United Nations agencies, be part of UN-sponsored negotiations on multilateral conventions (the real work of international legislating), or pass on the resolutions of UN political bodies."
UNPA proponents frequently counter by pointing out that most of the world's countries are democratic.
Funding
Heinrich opines, "It is essential that the salary and travel costs of UN parliamentarians should be paid by the institution of the UN Parliamentary Assembly from its own budget (which would be part of the UN budget), and not by the national governments individually. This is both to assure the independence of the UNPA politicians in their service to the UN and to assure equality of participation." Article 17 of the UN Charter stipulates, "The expenses of the Organization shall be borne by the Members as apportioned by the General Assembly." Thus, unless funded by private donors (as the land for UN headquarters was in 1946), presumably the UNPA would be funded like the rest of the UN system, with larger economies such as the U.S. paying larger shares of the contributions. This disparity might be offset by weighting members' votes according to their gross national product or their contributions to the UN system. A Vancouver Sun article notes, "Another point of opposition would involve the notion of adding bureaucracy and complexity to the UN. Estimated cost of the new outfit runs $140 million to $280 million a year." A 1993 Parliamentarians for Global ActionParliamentarians for Global Action
Parliamentarians for Global Action is a non-profit and non-partisan international organization of more than 1,300 free elected legislators from 130 democratic countries . It was established circa 1978 as Parliamentarians for World Order engaged in a range of action-oriented initiatives that promote...
survey showed that a strong majority of parliamentary respondents thought that the public would support the idea of a UN Parliamentary Assembly, but they were less sure the public would be prepared to finance it. The analysis pointed out, "The possibility of a greater financial burden to support an enlarged UN is unlikely to evoke support unless it can be demonstrated that the return on investment is significant. Citizens are often known to express lofty globalist sentiments when questioned on general principles, and to surrender them when costs or trade offs are concerned." A 1995 United Nations University
United Nations University
The United Nations University is an academic arm of the United Nations established in 1973, which serves purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The UNU undertakes research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of...
report claimed, "it is difficult to see how the Parliamentary Assembly would be able to pay for the salaries and travel of what could be over 1,000 representatives; this proposal could increase the duplication and waste that already exist within multilateral bodies."
CEUNPA's response to this objection is that "it is true that a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations would be another player in the diplomatic scenery which governments and their executives in international organizations would have to take into account to a certain degree. On the other hand, being composed of elected parliamentarians, the assembly would be closer to the citizens and as such it would lend more credibility and legitimacy to international decisions in which it is involved. In this way, the parliamentary assembly actually would contribute to an increased efficiency of international action."
Direct election vs. appointment by national parliaments
A UNPA might begin as an inter-parliamentary institutionInter-parliamentary institution
An inter-parliamentary institution is an organization of more than one national legislatures ....
–an assembly of parliamentarians from their respective countries' legislatures–and then change to a directly elected body. This would be similar to the evolution of the European Parliament. Beginning with the European Common Assembly's founding in 1952, MEPs
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
were appointed by each of the Member States' national parliaments; in 1979, direct election was instituted. Sen. Douglas Roche, O.C., in The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, analyzes the tradeoffs between the two choices. A UNPA based on existing parliamentarians may be easier to establish, because it avoids several hurdles, such as decisions on electoral cycles, a universally acceptable electoral body, legitimacy of elections, and so on: "A body comprising national parliamentarians has the 'stamp of approval' built-in. National parliamentarians can claim electoral legitimacy in their own right. Admittedly, the credibility of domestic franchised can be called into question, but the trend toward democracy has been strengthening rapidly." National parliamentarians also generally have staff and money, which could ease the funding issues associated with forming a new world parliamentary assembly. Delegates to a directly elected UNPA, on the other hand, would have more time to devote to the global assembly, since its members would not be occupied with duties relating to their membership in their national legislature. Heinrich points out strategic advantages of an indirectly elected UNPA: "Another advantage to basing representation in a UN Parliamentary Assembly on national parliaments is that it may engage parliamentarians as allies in the cause of getting the assembly established, and, later, helping to build the political will for its evolution. The experience of being a UN parliamentarian will galvanize many of these politicians into going home as advocates for the UN, including the need for strengthening and democratizing the UN Parliamentary Assembly itself."
Heinrich also notes the possibility that national parliaments could appoint citizen representatives to the UNPA, similarly to how the U.S. Electoral College officially selects the President. This would be a stopgap solution until direct election became possible. Yet it would still ensure that citizens would be electing citizens (albeit indirectly), rather than the executive appointing officials, to the UNPA.
Apportionment of votes
| System | Brazil | Indonesia | United States | India | China |
| Schwartzberg's weighted voting Schwartzberg's weighted voting Schwartzberg’s weighted voting is a method of voting, proposed by Joseph E. Schwartzberg, for representation of nations in a reformed United Nations.... |
1.91% | 1.38% | 9.07% | 5.96% | 7.67% |
| Provisional People's Assembly method | 2.22% | 1.71%* | 6.15% | 5.64% | 3.25%** |
| One person, one vote | 2.81% | 3.47% | 4.55% | 17.52% | 19.82% |
| Penrose method Penrose method The Penrose method is a method devised in 1946 by Professor Lionel Penrose for allocating the voting weights of delegations in decision-making bodies proportional to the square root of the population represented by this delegation... |
1.84% | 2.05% | 2.34% | 4.60% | 4.89% |
| One state, one vote | 0.52% | 0.52% | 0.52% | 0.52% | 0.52% |
| *Due to "Partially free" status. **Due to "Not free" status. | |||||
A global parliamentary assembly could be structured to give populous states greater influence. The one state, one vote rule of the UN General Assembly gives small states a disproportionate amount of influence over the UN system. In Entitlement quotients as a vehicle for United Nations reform, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
professor emeritus Joseph E. Schwartzberg
Joseph E. Schwartzberg
Joseph E. Schwartzberg is a University of Minnesota professor emeritus of geography and prominent world federalist scholar.Schwartzberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. He has done significant work in seeking solutions to the Kashmir conflict. He also developed the idea of "weighted voting"...
notes, "The sixty-four least populous members–enough to block a two-thirds majority vote–comprise less than one percent of the world's total population! And, in theory, the 127 least populous members, accounting for barely eight percent of humanity, are enough to provide the two-thirds majority needed to pass a substantive resolution." He continues this point in his essay, Overcoming Practical Difficulties in Creating a World Parliamentary Assembly:
There are several alternate proposals for apportionment of votes among member nations.
Schwartzberg's weighted voting
Schwartzberg's weighted voting
Schwartzberg’s weighted voting is a method of voting, proposed by Joseph E. Schwartzberg, for representation of nations in a reformed United Nations....
formula takes into account population (the democratic/demographic principle), contribution to the UN budget (the economic principle), and share of the total membership. The idea of weighting countries' votes according to their financial contribution to the organization is not unprecedented, as the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and other Bretton Woods
Bretton Woods system
The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid 20th century...
institutions use this method.
The Provisional People's Assembly
Provisional People's Assembly
The Provisional People's Assembly is an organization advocating creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. It has developed an elaborate system of allocating votes in such an assembly....
's methodology gives each nation Population Seats based on a calculation that combines the Penrose method
Penrose method
The Penrose method is a method devised in 1946 by Professor Lionel Penrose for allocating the voting weights of delegations in decision-making bodies proportional to the square root of the population represented by this delegation...
, Economic Seats equal to its portion of the world's total gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
, and classification as Free, Partially Free, or Unfree by Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
.
Under one person, one vote, each country's number of votes is directly proportional to its population. This would be similar to how U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s are represented in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. In The Future of Sovereignty - Rethinking a Key Concept of International Relations, Hasenclever et al. sum up the advantages and disadvantages of this system: "In a strict meaning of democracy based on individuals as subjects, every person's vote would have to have exactly the same weight. None of the known proposals, however, supports such a strict interpretation, because the inequality among the states' voting powers would be extreme with only four countries - China, India, the United States and the former USSR - disposing of an absolute majority."
The Penrose method
Penrose method
The Penrose method is a method devised in 1946 by Professor Lionel Penrose for allocating the voting weights of delegations in decision-making bodies proportional to the square root of the population represented by this delegation...
takes the square root
Square root
In mathematics, a square root of a number x is a number r such that r2 = x, or, in other words, a number r whose square is x...
of the millions of inhabitants in each country.
Election standards
A directly elected UNPA might have common election standards if it follows the example of European Parliament (EP). The European Parliament has adoptedElections in the European Union
Elections to the Parliament of the European Union take place every five years by universal adult suffrage. 736 MEPs are elected to the European Parliament which has been directly elected since 1979. No other body is directly elected although the Council of the European Union and European Council is...
certain minimum requirements, such as proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
, that each member country must abide by to be represented. Schwartzberg proposes a professional election commission
Election management body
An election management body or EMB is the authority in a nation charged with administering the electoral process. EMBs can be independent, mixed, judicial or governmental. The EMB may also be responsible for electoral boundary delimitation...
"to ensure that assembly elections are carried out, to the maximum extent, on a level playing field". Under Schwartzberg's proposal, the commission would have several powers, including the authority to establish rules of fairness, determine in advance whether fairness criteria were being met, and foreclose polling where those criteria were not met. He proposes criteria that an election must meet to be considered valid, such as minimum participation rates that initially could be set as low as 20%, and gradually increased.
See also
- Community of DemocraciesCommunity of DemocraciesThe Community of Democracies is an intergovernmental organization of democracies and democratizing countries with a stated commitment to strengthening and deepening democratic norms and practices worldwide...
- Global governanceGlobal governanceGlobal governance or world governance is the political interaction of transnational actors aimed at solving problems that affect more than one state or region when there is no power of enforcing compliance. The modern question of world governance exists in the context of globalization...
- Cosmopolitan democracyCosmopolitan democracyCosmopolitan democracy is a political theory which explores the application of norms and values of democracy at different levels, from global to local. It is about what global governance of the people, by the people, to the people can mean...
- List of countries by population
- List of indices of freedom
- Reform of the United NationsReform of the United NationsSince the late 1990s there have been many calls for reform of the United Nations . However, there is little clarity or consensus about what reform might mean in practice. Both those who want the UN to play a greater role in world affairs and those who want its role confined to humanitarian work or...
External links
- Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
- Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly
- Vote World Parliament - Democratic World Parliament through a global referendum