Parliamentary Diplomacy and Regional Integration: a Case Study of the East African Legislative Assembly

Abstract

This study focused on parliamentary diplomacy and regional integration and specifically on the role of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) within the East African region. Parliamentary diplomacy is a relatively new aspect of International Relations and within the East African Community (EAC) it takes place within the regions assembly, EALA. However, while implementing its mandate, the EALA Members of Parliament (MP) get stuck in between a rock and a hard place, not knowing whether to prioritize the regions interests or their national foreign policies. The MPs tend to be national loyalists more than representatives of the regional body whose overall interests they are expected to find solutions for, through their oversight, legislation and representation roles. With that in mind, a research to fulfil the objectives of examining the role of parliamentary diplomacy in enhancing regional integration, evaluating the conduct of parliamentary diplomacy in East Africa and analyzing the role of EALA in enhancing regional integration within East Africa was necessary. This scenario is best explained using the realism theory explained by Hans Morgenthau and Thomas Hobbes whereby they posit that states‟ national interests are their priority and advancing their interests is their priority even within regional organizations. A combination of a close ended and an open questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample size determined through snowballing. Ultimately, it was true from the data collected in the field within the East African region that EALA MPs‟ priority is their national interests and are more loyal to their sending states than the regional body. This is what led to a recommendation of an amendment of both the EAC Treaty and that establishing EALA in order to change their nomination process since it is the root cause of their allegiance to their executive and political parties. The research work was very important since it verified the problem statement and proposed a change to the status quo.