Arab Parliaments: Initiative's Publications

This guide is coauthored by Robert B. Seidman, Ann Seidman, and Nalin Abeyesekere. UNDP funded its translation to Arabic. It aims at providing the legislators with the necessary tools that would help them in assessing legislations and proposing them to promote social and democratic change in their countries. The guide highlights and discusses several important topics such as the role of the legislator in facilitating socio-political and economic change, the legislative theory, and the methodology for problem solving, in addition to assessing the technical sufficiency for the proposed law.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It sheds light on the changes occurring in the strategic environment and the different actors concerned. It also discusses the implications of these changes on intelligence services, highlights ways in which these issues can be addressed and sets the priorities in facing the recent and current changes and challenges.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It defines the role of intelligence services, their purpose and activities, and how intelligence is produced. It also sheds light on the types of intelligence services, relevant legislations and the democratic standards that should govern them.

Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change: A Manual for Drafters [ Arabic ]. 2005 [brief description]

This guide is coauthored by Robert B. Seidman, Ann Seidman, and Nalin Abeyesekere. UNDP funded its translation to Arabic. It aims to provide guidance to the legislators during the technical procedure of legislation. It highlights several important topics such as the relation between the legislative drafting, good governance, and the process of development. It discusses the technique for preparing a research report, and methods for drafting a draft law. The guide also sheds light on the role of legislative drafting in promoting good governance.

This Guide is published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). UNDP funded its translation to Arabic. The guide provides some insights into the particular role played by the parliaments in countries which have experienced or are going through transition from conflict, and highlights the pitfalls to be avoided on the road to reconciliation.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It discusses the importance of military ombudsmen and on how to ensure effective functioning of these institutions. It also highlights the German and Canadian experiences in this domain, and reviews other available oversight mechanisms.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It discusses the management of diversity within armed forces and the involved actors in this process. It highlights some of the guiding principles in dealing with ethnic groups in armed forces, as well as some methods followed to ensure balanced representation of the different groups, and some special considerations regarding multiethnic armies in post-conflict settings. Finally it sheds light on the main structural approaches to multiethnicity in the armed forces.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It focused on national security policy, and the reasons why a country needs to adopt one. The backgrounder also reviews the legal framework and explains how a national security policy is structured and formulated, the challenges which need to be taken into account while formulating an effective national security policy, and means to implement it. Finally it outlines the principles for an effective and democratic national security policy.

This guide was prepared by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It aims at providing a comprehensive account of the central role that parliament plays in a democracy. It explains what it means for a parliament to be truly representative, transparent, accessible, accountable and effective in its many functions on the national and international levels. The Guide provides examples to good practice contributed by parliaments from every region of the world, that illustrate how purely abstract ideas of democracy become grounded in real-life parliamentary practices.

This guide, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the World Bank Institute and the United Nations Fund for Women, discusses some of the basic concepts and issues in budgeting, the budget process and the budget as a tool for accountability. It also provides a gender perspective on the budget and suggests ways to strengthen legislative participation in this domain.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. The backgrounder sheds light on parliamentary committees on defence and security. It defines what distinguishes the work of these committees from other committees, and which committees are involved in defense and security. In addition it outlines the mandate and role of these committees, and what factors increase their efficiency. It also identifies how these committees organize themselves internally, and how the division of labor among them differs in various countries, listing some examples.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation into Arabic and publication. It discusses the role of parliament in oversight of intelligence services and identifies the five layers of intelligence scrutiny. It also sheds light on the experience of parliamentary oversight committees in four countries, and outlines the oversight mandate of the parliament, the key challenges facing it and how these challenges can be addressed.

This handbook was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It deals with the evolving concept of security and the oversight role that parliament plays in this sector, as well as the stages of national security policy cycle and the relevant international regulations. It also highlights the role of civil society and the media in security sector monitoring. The handbook provides an overview of the constituents of the security sector, as well as the tools and instruments that parliaments can use to oversee this sector. It focuses on three main aspects: defense budgeting, security sector personnel and procurement.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. This backgrounder discusses the role that the parliament plays in the different phases of the preparation of the defense budget, as well as overseeing its execution. The backgrounder also highlights the importance of promoting the role of the parliament in this area, how this role differs from one country to another, and the specific issues facing developing and post-conflict areas.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It sheds light on the difference of defense procurement from other types of government procurements, the actors involved in defense procurement, and the stages of defense procurement in which the parliament may intervene. The backgrounder also discusses the main challenges facing this type of procurement, ways to strengthen parliamentary role in this area, and the specific issues facing developing and post-conflict areas.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. It discusses private military companies in the light of the growing demand on them, and compares and contrasts them with military institutions in terms of cost effectiveness and efficiency. It also sheds light on the importance of these companies to governance issues, and how they should be regulated both by international and national legislation.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation into Arabic and publication. It discusses the key components of a state of emergency, and the importance of this issue. It outlines the essential principles that should be respected during the state of emergency, focusing on the human rights aspect. It also details the special powers that can be proclaimed in such a state and the mechanisms and approaches that can limit the abuse of these powers.

The General Budget in the Arab Countries: Comparative Study on the Preparation, Approval, Implementation and Monitoring of the Budget in the Arab Countries [ English ][ Arabic ]. 2005 [brief description]

This book, published by UNDP, defines the general budget, and sheds light on various aspects such as the budget’s history and development, principles of a good general budget, measures to promote the parliament’s role and the obstacles that limit the effectiveness of parliaments in this domain. The book also discusses methods of preparing the budget in the Arab countries, as well as approving, implementing, and performing auditing and oversight over its implementation. The book concludes by highlighting the final accounts process in different Arab countries.

The Rights and Duties of Members of Arab Parliaments: Comparative Study of Rules of Procedure of Arab Parliaments [ Arabic ]. 2007 [brief description]

This book, published by UNDP’s Parliamentary Development Initiative, Presents a comparative overview of the rights and duties of Arab parliamentarians in the light of the Arab parliaments’ bylaws. The study discusses the sources of rights and duties of parliamentarians, members of parliaments’ right to join parliamentary committees, speak in general assemblies and committee meetings, and submit draft laws. The study also compares the Arab parliaments’ bylaws concerning parliamentarians’ oversight role of the executive power, parliamentary immunity, resignation, and their duties in attending parliamentary sessions.

This book published by UNDP – POGAR, includes the proceedings of the Symposium on Arab Parliamentary Developmentheld in Beirut in 2000. The papers present a comparison between the Arab parliament’s regulations, as well as a comparison between their legislative functions. It also discusses the oversight role of Arab parliaments, and sheds light on the Lebanese parliamentary life. It also includes a plan for developing Arab parliamentary life, and highlights the challenges and possible domains for institutional development.

Towards Developing Legislative Drafting for Arab Parliaments [ Arabic ]. 2003 [brief description]

This book, published by UNDP – POGAR, includes the proceedings as well as the final report, of the Workshop on Developing Legislative Drafting for Arab Parliaments, held in Beirut in 2003. Some of the topics discussed are: legislative drafting for good governance; Legislative drafting in Arab countries; methodologies, means and sources for producing legislative texts. It also focuses on the status of legislative drafting in Egypt, and suggests ways to improve legislation and make them clearer. The book concludes with the discussion of the pillars for an efficient and democratic legislative process.

This Backgrounder was prepared by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). UNDP funded its translation and publication in Arabic. This backgrounder sheds light on the vetting and security sector. It discusses the importance of vetting, who needs to be vetted, some of the main techniques of vetting. It also sheds light on the human rights and governance challenges that vetting poses, and some of the particular challenges for transition and post conflict countries.