Rationales of inter-parliamentary cooperation in European security politics: From the inter-parliamentary union to the IPC-CFSP

This rise of international parliamentarism is usually attributed to the requirements of ensuring democratic control in the face of increasing internationalization. This paper, however, argues that this democratic rationale is a rather recent one. In fact, it was a polemological rationale, i.e. the idea that inter-parliamentary co-operation would help overcome conflict and war among states, that was midwife to international parliamentarism in the first place. After introducing the polemological and democratic rationales of international parliamentarism, this paper focuses on the case of security cooperation in Europe because this region has a particularly long and rich history of inter-parliamentary cooperation. The papers argues that, in many respects, the polemological rationale does not conflict with a democratic one: Both benefit from a high frequency of meetings, interesting speakers and a strong secretariat to support their work. The two logics do conflict, however, when it comes to the inclusion or exclusion of MPs from non-member states. Whereas the polemological rationale suggests inclusion in order to foster communication and interaction between MPs from various side of a conflict, the democratic rationale prioritizes interaction amongst members over outreach to non-members.