A literature-based framework for analysing parliamentary diplomacy in conflict settings: European responses to the Russia–Ukraine war

Abstract

This article presents a literature-based framework for analysing parliamentary diplomacy in conflict settings, grounded in European responses to the Russia–Ukraine war. While parliaments’ international activities in promoting democracy and human rights are well studied, their contributions to conflict resolution remain underexplored. This article develops and applies an original categorisation of the objectives and means of parliamentary diplomacy in conflict settings by systematically reviewing the literature on the activities of European national parliaments and international parliamentary institutions–the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly–regarding the Russia–Ukraine war from 2010 to Q1 2024. To test the framework’s applicability, it is applied to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, where scholarly literature is scarce, using primary sources. This dual approach demonstrates the framework’s utility as a structured tool for future empirical research and comparative analyses of parliamentary diplomacy in conflict settings.