Acknowledgements Preface Foreword Executive summary INTRODUCTION A REPRESENTATIVE PARLIAMENT A PARLIAMENT THAT IS OPEN AND TRANSPARENT AN ACCESSIBLE PARLIAMENT A PARLIAMENT THAT IS ACCOUNTABLE AN EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT (I): THE NATIONAL LEVEL AN EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT (II): PARLIAMENT'S INVOLVEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FACING THE FUTURE Annexes Parliaments providing submissions to the Guide Working Group on Parliaments’ contribution to democracy Legislative strengthening organisations Figures and boxes Figure 1.1: Framework: the parliamentary contribution to democracy Figure 2.1: World average of women in parliaments, 1995 - 2006 Figure 2.2: Regional averages of women in parliaments, 1995, 2000 and 2005 Figure 3.1: First main source of information for national and international news per region Figure 3.2: Internet usage statistics Figure 3.3: A Day in Parliament Comic Book Figure 5.1: Trust in national institutions: regional averages Figure 7.1: Synchronising legislative-executive coordination with specific points in the PRSP cycle Figure 8.1: Sources of Parliamentary Reform Box: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 25 Box: Election results in India and the United Kingdom Box: IPU recommendations on good practice for parliamentary websites Box: Extract from handbook on Making a Submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee Illustrations Written and edited by David Beetham Copyright © Inter-Parliamentary Union 2006 All rights reserved ISBN: 92-9142-297-5