Towards parliamentarisation of foreign and security policy?

Abstract

It is customary to argue that foreign policy is very much dominated by the executive, with parliaments wielding limited influence. However, with the exception of the U.S. Congress, legislative-executive relations in the realm of foreign and security policy have attracted remarkably little scholarly attention. Drawing on a principal-agent framework, this collection scrutinizes the conventional wisdom of 'executive autonomy' in foreign affairs, indicating that even though parliaments have arguably become more involved in foreign and security policy over time, any notions of parliamentarization need to be treated with caution. While expectations of consensus in the name of the national interest continue to play an important role in foreign policy decisionmaking, the papers highlight the role of party-political contestation structuring parliamentary debates and votes in this increasingly politicized issue area. This introductory paper introduces the analytical framework and hypotheses guiding the contributions in this collection, summarizes their main findings and suggests avenues for future research.

Parliaments in security policy: Involvement, politicisation, and influence

“…Our focus in this introduction-and the general focus of the Special Issue as a whole-rests primarily on 'hard' security issues related to war involvement, military operations, and the use of force. 3 This focus contrasts with broader perspectives on parliaments' place in foreign and security policy (for instance, see Raunio and Wagner, 2017). Based on our review of the literature, we then discuss existing blind spots and consider how addressing them would strengthen research at the intersection of IR and comparative politics more generally.…”

“Winning” and “Losing” the Iran Nuclear Deal: How Advocacy Coalitions and Competition Shape U.S. Foreign Policy

“…The past two decades have seen some diversification of the scholarship, with more studies recognizing that foreign policy restructuring is typically the result of complex domestic political processes and contestation (Brummer et al 2019;Kaarbo 2017;Raunio and Wagner 2017). Among the more promising research programs on restructuring have been studies of loss-aversion theory and foreign policy change, role theory, and constructivist treatments of international norms.…”

Legislative Oversight of Brazilian Foreign Policy: An Analysis of Requests for Information and Summonses to Ministers, 1991-2014

“…These studies try to shed light on a field of politics that has only recently received increased attention in the media. There is already a considerable body of research on the role played by legislative powers in foreign policy-making in developed countries, including the EU (Batjay 2015;European Parliament 2015;Fowler 2015;Kaiser 1977;Mello and Peters 2018;Raunio and Wagner 2016).…”

“…However, as researchers of both legislative studies and foreign policy analysis have expanded their research agendas and combined their efforts, they have begun to recognise the role played by the legislative branch in foreign policy (Mello and Peters 2018). Lawmakers make use of requests for information, summonses to ministers, and other oversight instruments to influence foreign policy, and their contributions to this process need to be understood (Raunio and Wagner 2016). These tools present legislators with an opportunity to play a proactive role in foreign policy-making that has often been undervalued.…”

“…Restrained by constitutional and practical factors, the National Congress acts mostly through its oversight competencies to influence foreign policy. As in other Western democracies, it makes use of the various oversight instruments at its disposal to examine and influence foreign policy, and to ensure that certain priorities prevail (Raunio and Wagner 2016). According to Herbel (2016), opposition members of Congress do tend to scrutinise government policies and activities when effective oversight tools are at their disposal.…”