Regional Parliaments and Democratic Crises: The Performance of ECOWAS and MERCOSUR Parliaments in the Democracy Protection Agenda. Issue 2 (26th November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Luciano, Bruno Theodoro; Ramanzini Júnior, Haroldo
• Is Part Of: Parliamentary affairs. Volume 76:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 485
• Page End: 506
• Publication Date: 2021-11-26
• Subjects: Comparative Regionalism -- Democracy Protection -- Regional Parliaments -- MERCOSUR -- ECOWAS; Representative government and representation -- Periodicals; Legislative bodies -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Legislative bodies; Political science; Representative government and representation; Great Britain; Periodicals; Periodicals; 328.4105
• DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsab059
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-2290

Abstract

Abstract: This article aims to examine regional parliaments of two prominent regional organisations in South America (Southern Common Market) and Western Africa (Economic Community of West African States), by focusing on their performance in the agenda of democracy protection. We comparatively assess the performance of regional parliamentary agents in contributing to the mediation and conflict resolution in cases of democratic breakdown as well as the conditions and factors that affect parliamentary performance. We argue that regional parliaments have exerted relevant agency in democratic crises, despite their low decision-making competencies and the strong intergovernmental features of Global South regional organisations.