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 technologies to facilitate international cultural and economic exchan ...

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. 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, assembly, council and other types). Most of the inter-parliamentary institutions are part of an inter ...

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

legislative power A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

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 adop ...

, 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 ...

. Such branches of intergovernmental organizations are typically established in order to provide for representation of

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

s, 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 ...

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 supranationalism of the organization.

List of international parliaments

{{Incomplete list, date=February 2011

List of international parliaments

See also