Executive Summary

The study covers the major sectors of the development of parliamentary work in the Arab world over the last decade:
- At the institutional level: the organizational structure of the Parliament and its main units
- At the technical level: the qualification of the staff in the various departments and technical units, and the technical bodies assisting the Parliament's general secretariat
- At the political level: the level of support to the work for the parliamentarians themselves

The study presents practical ideas to proceed with the institutional development of the Arab Parliaments. The most important ones concerns how to:
- Improve the research and documentation sector,
- Improve the functioning of the Parliament's committees,
- Better train the staff on parliamentary work
- Better expose parliamentarians to various parliamentary experiences in the modern world

The study relied on the personal experience of its author as a consultant in the program of institutional development of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Egyptian's People's Assembly as well as on case studies from a number of Parliaments, and personal contacts with a number of parliamentarians and experts from different countries.

Among the recommendations of the study are:
- The need to publish and give large access to the proceedings of the parliamentary sessions;
- The need to establish a modern and efficient archiving and bill tracking system;
- The need to insure a large media coverage of parliamentary debates;
- The need to explore ways of providing support for individual parliamentarian's work such as legislative aides, personal offices, constituency relations budgets, custom made research and documentation services and others;
- A better use of the potential of parliamentary study tours and exchange programs;
- The possible generalization of the ministry for parliamentary affairs, which exists in some countries, to improve on the relationship between the Executive and Legislative Institutions;
- The importance of benefiting from and collaborating with universities, independent research centers, think-tanks, and civil society organizations;
- The possible establishment of an Arab Institute for Parliamentary Studies and a yearly Arab Parliamentary Report.