INTER PARES E-learning Courses

INTER PARES is delighted to share the news about the launch of its first e-learning courses.  All INTER PARES courses can be accessed on the AGORA e-learning platform.  

The course on parliamentary oversight was written by Dr Olivier Rozenberg and explores why we practice parliamentary oversight, what parliamentary oversight is and is not, how parliamentary oversight is carried out, and what implications parliamentary oversight has.  Throughout, learners are invited to explore a wide range of case studies from across Europe and beyond. The course also features interviews with Lord Norton (UK House of Lords), Tim Hughes (Director of Involve) and Tara Tepavac (Senior Researcher at CRTA).  

The course on legislative drafting, written by Professor Helen Xanthaki and colleagues, provides a comprehensive introduction to modern drafting practices.  It places legislation within the context of regulation, defines law-making and legislative drafting, explores effectiveness as the criterion for good legislation, and clarifies the elements of a good piece of legislation.  The course also features video interviews with legislative drafting experts from Croatia, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden, among others.  

Looking ahead, INTER PARES will launch further core courses on comparative law-making, representation and budgeting in 2021, along with specialised courses on environmental protection and climate change, gender, and youth.  All courses will be fit for use as stand-alone learning resources but will also be integrated into INTER PARES peer-to-peer partnership activities where relevant.  

Last but not least, a word of thanks to our partners.  Both courses were developed with the support of the INTER PARES e-learning Working Group and benefited from inputs by Derek Dignam (Houses of the Oireachtas), Jochen Guckes (Bundestag), Keiba Jacobs (Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago), Francesco Ronchi (European Parliament), Natália Švecová (National Council of the Slovak Republic) and Marie Vigouroux (Assemblée nationale).  In addition, representatives of the parliaments of Bhutan, Poland and Trinidad and Tobago provided invaluable feedback during the testing phase.  INTER PARES extends its sincere appreciation to all.