August 2011 Working Conference in London
The time is ripe to transcend the traditional, nationally oriented perspectives on parliamentary historiography and to place the comparative and transnational approach firmly on the research agendas. New research projects will take this into account and focus on the ‘European dimension’ of parliamentary history.
During the EuParl.net working conference in London (24/25 August 2011), the board of the European Information and Research Network on Parliamentary History (EuParl.net) decided to coin an appropriate label for this European approach: New Parliamentary History.
The conference was highly successful and some major decisions about the future of the network were made. First of all, the ambitions and plans of the EuParl network will be stated in a manifesto. This manifesto will be presented in early 2012 and will present the common new approach towards parliamentary history writing of the members of the network. It aims to address questions concerning the historical development of parliaments in Europe from the 18th century onwards.
Also a business plan will be presented containing a proposal for a common research project. Within the scope of this research project international conferences and workshops will be organised. This common research project will focus on comparing parliaments and the idea of parliamentarism in Europe. It will take into account both national parliaments as well as the European Parliament. It will focus on the historical development of these parliaments and how they are related.
Another decision that was taken is that conferences which are organised by EuParl members will be labeled as EuParl events. To this end a new EuParl logo has been designed for the network.