At What Point does a Legislature Become Institutionalized? the Mercosur Parliament's Path

Dri, Clarissa

doi:10.1590/1981-3859200900020003

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Brazilian Political Science Review

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Article • Bras. Political Sci. Rev. 3 (2) • 2009 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-3859200900020003 copy

At What Point does a Legislature Become Institutionalized? the Mercosur Parliament's Path^* * I thank Olivier Costa, Isabelle Guinaudeau, Sylvain Brouard, Urs Scheuss, Julien Navarro, Mariana Llanos, Natalia Ajenjo and BPSR reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

The Mercosur Parliament was created in 2005 to represent the peoples of the region. The constitutive documents affirm the necessity of reinforcing and deepening integration and democracy within Mercosur through an efficient and balanced institutional structure. In order to examine the potential role of the Parliament in strengthening the institutional framework of the bloc, this paper aims to analyse its initial years of activity. What is the institutionalization level reached by the assembly so far? The research is grounded on the idea that the more institutionalized the legislature is, the more it will influence the political system. The article presents a comparative approach that considers the earliest steps of the European Parliament. In terms of methodology, the qualitative analysis is based on documental research and on direct observation of the Mercosur Parliament's meetings. The main conclusions are related to the limited level of institutionalization of this new assembly, in spite of its innovative features regarding the Mercosur structure, and to its similarity with the initial period of the European Parliament.

Keywords:
Regional integration; Parliamentary institutionalization; Mercosur; European Union

Associação Brasileira de Ciência Política Avenida Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 315, sala 2047, CEP 05508-900, Tel.: (55 11) 3091-3754 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: bpsr@brazilianpoliticalsciencareview.org

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

Autonomy	Specification (Chevallier): institutions tend to isolate a geographical or symbolic space to delineate their own identity and areas of intervention. It also corresponds to the social significance of the institution: the institutionalization process exists when the social imagination recognizes the organization, i.e., when this group of signals and symbols becomes socially stable. Autonomy (Huntington): institutions' interests, values and procedures exist independently of other political organizations and social groupings. Autonomy (March and Olsen): differentiation of social forces.
Complexity	Differentiation (Chevallier): institutions arise in a world full of social divisions, but also experience internal contradictions and disagreements emblematic of the struggle for power, mainly between agents and clients or between directors and employees. It is thus related to the social relations within the institution: institutionalization reflects the definition of roles, positions and functions in which the actors are divided.
	Complexity (Huntington): multiplication and specification of organizational subunits, hierarchically and functionally, in order to depend less on isolated individuals.
	Coherence (Huntington): minimum substantial consensus about the functional boundaries and conflict resolution within the organization.
	“Structuration”, “routinization”, standardization, homogenization (Olsen): impersonal rules and standard operating procedures.
	Binding resources (Olsen): staff, budget, buildings and equipment which provide a capability to enforce rules in case of non-compliance.
Socialization	Unification (Chevallier): institutions conceive of themselves as a totality, a homogenous group, which is essential to maintain their cohesion and ensure their preservation. This stage refers to the forms of collective action of an institution, meaning that the institutionalization process implies a gradual transformation of identity: the institution becomes an impersonal, objective and autonomous entity (objectivization) and the members internalize this status, creating an organizational culture (internalization).
Attributions	Coherence (March and Olsen): capacity to make decisions.
Adaptability	Adaptability (Huntington): faculty of institutions to change and to adjust their procedures and functions to transformations in the environment and political context.

Autonomy	Differentiation (Polsby): the parliament is differentiated from its environment, and its members are easily identifiable.
Autonomy	Autonomy (Norton, Copeland and Patterson): independence from other structures or organizations.
Complexity	Organizational complexity (Polsby): the parliament displays a complex organization of roles and activities, with functional specification and patterns of recruitment.
	Universalization (Polsby): the assembly tends to use universalist and automatic means to conduct its internal procedures, rather than particularist and discretionary logics.
	Universalism (Norton): standardization of rules which apply to all actors.
	Organizational complexity (Norton, Copeland and Patterson): recorded rules and procedures, leadership positions, specialized committees.
	Formality (Copeland and Patterson): impersonal, standardized and predictable performance, which derives from codified and public rules and procedures.
Socialization	In a strict political sense, socialization is the process by which individuals incorporate beliefs and representations regarding power (vertical dimension) and groups (horizontal dimension) into their attitudinal structure and behaviour patterns (Braud). This happens in two different dimensions: assimilation and accommodation (Percheron).
Attributions	Parliament's role in policy-making according to material competences (Blondel): the institution can interfere on detailed, intermediate or broad subjects.
	Popular expectations of the parliament (Mezey): policy-making model, representation model and political system maintenance model.
	Type of legislature (Mezey): active, vulnerable, reactive, marginal or minimal.
	Uniformity (Copeland and Patterson): development of typical parliamentary functions, which differentiate legislatures from other political organizations (law-making, recruiting legislative and executive leaders, representation and accountability).
Adaptability	Linkage to environment (Copeland and Patterson): refers to the representative principle. Legitimacy is a vital feature of legislatures that derives from bringing citizens' demands to the public space. Adaptability (Norton): flexibility in adapting to the constitutional and political context.

Representative	The Parliament represents the peoples of Mercosur.
Deliberative	Parlasur can organize public meetings and seminars with civil society and business sectors. It organizes twice yearly meetings with representatives of the Consultative Economic and Social Forum to exchange views on the integration process. Internal debates may entail normative acts such as declarations and recommendations.
Accountability	In order to control Mercosur bodies, the Parliament may: – receive an annual report of the Mercosur Secretariat budget; – produce an annual report on the human rights situation in the region; – receive petitions from citizens or moral persons related to actions or omissions of Mercosur bodies; – ask Mercosur institutions for written information, which should be answered in 180 days maximum; – invite representatives of Mercosur institutions to discuss the integration process; – receive authorities from the Mercosur temporary presidency in the beginning and end of each semester to present a plan and an evaluation of activities; – demand consultative opinions of the Permanent Revision Court.
Legislative	The Parliament counts on the following normative instruments: – opinions: formal statements about legislative projects of the CMC; – legislative projects: bills presented to the CMC. If Parlasur suggestions are taken into account, the bill is considered in national congresses through an accelerated procedure; – legislative draft projects: bills presented to national parliaments in order to harmonize member-states' legislation; – recommendations: proposals to the decision-making bodies of Mercosur; – reports: studies about specific subjects prepared by Parlasur committees; – measures: Administrative rules on Parlasur internal organization; – declarations: Manifestations about any subject of public interest.

Brasil

Brasil

At What Point does a Legislature Become Institutionalized? the Mercosur Parliament's Path* * I thank Olivier Costa, Isabelle Guinaudeau, Sylvain Brouard, Urs Scheuss, Julien Navarro, Mariana Llanos, Natalia Ajenjo and BPSR reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

At What Point does a Legislature Become Institutionalized? the Mercosur Parliament's Path^* * I thank Olivier Costa, Isabelle Guinaudeau, Sylvain Brouard, Urs Scheuss, Julien Navarro, Mariana Llanos, Natalia Ajenjo and BPSR reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.