
Associate Dean for Faculty and Strategic Initiatives Andrew L. Strauss. Photo courtesy European Union 2013 - EP.

Associate Dean for Faculty and Strategic Initiatives Andrew L. Strauss recently spoke at the 5th international meeting on a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly sponsored by several members of the European Parliament that took place in Brussels, Belgium in mid-October.Strauss is a member of the International Advisors Group of the One World Trust and wrote “Taking Democracy Global: Assessing the Benefits and Challenges of a Global Parliamentary Assembly,” for the One World Trust in 2005. He has written extensively on democratizing the international system.In his remarks at the conference, Strauss made the case for a Global Parliament being a “more effective international system” that could “create context for a more peaceful global order.” A Global Parliament could address equity issues between larger, more powerful nations and smaller ones by enforcing norms and not allowing the more powerful countries to selectively choose which international norms to obey.Alfred de Zayas, the UN’s Independent Expert for the Promotion of an Equitable and Democratic International Order, spoke at the conference. Strauss called the event a “potential breakthrough” in the movement for a Global Parliament, adding, “It was a very useful conference.”