An international parliament or supranational legislature is a branch of an

intergovernmental organization Globalization is social change associated with increased connectivity among societies and their elements and the explosive evolution of transportation and telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various typ ...

that is similar to a parliament, thus establishing a hybrid system of

intergovernmentalism In international relations, intergovernmentalism treats states (and national governments in particular) as the primary actors in the integration process. Intergovernmentalist approaches claim to be able to explain both periods of radical change i ...

and

supranationalism A supranational union is a type of international organization that is empowered to directly exercise some of the powers and functions otherwise reserved to states. A supranational organization involves a greater transfer of or limitation of ...

. These could be based on a predecessor

inter-parliamentary institution An inter-parliamentary institution (also known as parliamentary assembly) is an organization of more than one national legislatures (parliament, Legislative Assembly, assembly, Legislative Council, council and other types). Most of the inter-parl ...

or a newly established organization-level legislature. International parliaments generally do not have

legislative power A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known a ...

s; an exception is the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, which has legislative powers in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Such branches of intergovernmental organizations are typically established in order to provide for representation of citizens, rather than

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

s who are represented in other bodies within the organization. The assembly can be composed of members of the national legislatures (whose members are

directly elected Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

in most cases) or of its own

members, further strengthening the

of the organization.

List of international parliaments

{{Incomplete list, date=February 2011

List of international parliaments

See also