1st Edition

The 'Double Democratic Deficit' Parliamentary Accountability and the Use of Force Under International Auspices

By Heiner Hänggi Copyright 2004
    258 Pages
    by Routledge

    258 Pages
    by Routledge

    Many current threats to security arising from terrorism, 'rogue' states and civil wars are highly complex and often transnational in nature and effect. Such threats can no longer be meaningfully addressed at the national level alone but require an international response. Since the end of the Cold War, the use of force under international auspices (UN, NATO, EU) has increased substantially. However, such actions have not necessarily been accompanied by improvements in their democratic accountability. Pre-existing problems and inadequacies of parliamentary oversight of armed forces and use of force at the national level of many democratic states are mirrored, and even magnified, at the international level. The effect of imperfect democratic controls at the national level and the challenges to provide transparent and accountable multilateral responses results in the so-called double democratic deficit of the international use of force. Each chapter in this innovative work analyses the challenges of parliamentary and democratic supervision of international security structures and puts forward proposals on how to improve democratic accountability of multinational responses to complex security challenges.

    Contents: Part I: Introduction: The use of force under international auspices: parliamentary accountability and 'Democratic Deficits', Heiner Hänggi. Part II: The General Context: Democratic governance and the internationalisation of security policy: the relevance of parliaments, Owen Greene; Using military force under international auspices: a mixed system of accountability, Charlotte Ku. Part III: The UN Context: Parliamentary accountability of multinational peace support operations: a comparative perspective, Hans Born and Marlene Urscheler; Srebrenica, Dutchbat and the role of the Netherlands' Parliament, Jan Hoekema; The public inquiry into the Canadian peace mission in Somalia, Donna Winslow and Christ Klep. Part IV: The NATO Context: Decision-making in the Atlantic Alliance and its parliamentary dimension, Willem van Eekelen; The United States Congress, the German Bundestag and NATO's intervention in Kosovo, Lori Fisler Damrosch; Parliamentary accountability and military forces in NATO: the case of Germany, Roman Schmidt-Radefeldt. Part V: The EU Context: The European Union as an international security actor: challenges for democratic accountability, Giovanna Bono; Parliamentary accountability and ESDP: the national and the European level, Catriona Gourlay. Part VI: Conclusions: The use of force under international auspices: strengthening parliamentary accountability, Hans Born; Bibliography; Index.

    Biography

    Hänggi, Heiner