Parliaments and multilateralism: the case of parliamentary hearing at the United Nations

Once a year the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) organizes a hearing at the United Nations. The event has been organized regularly since the early 2000 and it is a joint effort between the IPU, and the UN meant to contribute a parliamentary viewpoint to major UN processes. The idea is to bring parliamentarians, UN diplomatic community representatives and scholars and academics together to discuss main issues in the international agenda. This year’s meeting is entitled “Building political support and inclusive responses to sustainable recovery.” This paper focuses to examine how the parliaments’ role in multilateral cooperation is considered in these meetings and what does it mean to have a parliamentary viewpoint in the major UN processes. The further interest lies in examining more closely how parliaments (and parliamentarians) are actors in multilateral cooperation and what are the topics considered relevant both the IPU and UN in these meetings. The paper contributes to the scholarly debates on parliamentary diplomacy and the overall meaning of parliaments’ involvement in multilateral cooperation.