ICNRD-6 was only the second conference in the movement's history to have formal parliamentary participation, whereas civil society organizations have participated in ICNRD since 1997. The contribution of parliaments and civil society was explicitly recognized by United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/253 of 2 May 2006, which welcomed the "comprehensive tripartite character (government, parliaments, civil society) of the Sixth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, which will allow for greater interaction and cooperation in the common effort of promoting democracy." The Parliamentary Meeting in Doha clearly provided more opportunities for substantive debate than the halfday parliamentary event at ICNRD-5 held in Mongolia in 2003. ICNRD-6 constituted, therefore, a greater recognition of parliaments as key players in the field of democracy.

The Qatari government was instrumental in promoting the Conference's tripartite nature and throughout the event, convened several meetings among the three parties to encourage the crossfertilization that was otherwise lacking as a result of the fact that discussions in the governmental, parliamentary and civil society components were for the most part conducted in parallel.

Although each segment adopted its own outcome documents, an interesting development at ICNRD- 6 was the adoption for the first time of a Joint Declaration and Joint Follow-up Mechanism. Some would argue that the Joint Declaration is a very minimal statement of principles of a general nature; others would see it as a basis for developing a joint vision and understanding of democracy in the future. That some agreement could be reached between stakeholders was an achievement in itself.

Clearly, some governments were reluctant to open up the ICNRD movement to other stakeholders, and in particular to civil society organizations. From a parliamentary perspective, it would appear that ICNRD has everything to gain by embracing the diversity of viewpoints that parliaments and civil society can bring. Democracy is the result of the interplay between a complex set of institutions and practices, in which governments, parliaments, civil society and the media all have their specific role to play, with due respect for their individual mandates. To bring all stakeholders into the debate is to reinforce its effectiveness.

Furthermore, becoming a truly tripartite movement would give ICNRD a distinctive character on the international stage. It would also send a strong signal that the democracy gap in international relations can and must be narrowed through this type of innovative partnership, where the primary representatives of the people have a say in promoting the democracy agenda. Concerning the future development of the tripartite character of ICNRD, much will depend on the reactions and guidance of the United Nations General Assembly, as well as on the capacity of parliaments and civil society to demonstrate that they can be effective partners of governments, notably by ensuring effective follow-up to the decisions adopted in Doha.

The governmental follow-up to some of the key recommendations of the ICNRD-5 (national plans of action to consolidate democracy, development of nationally-owned democratic governance indicators) was actively pursued by the host country, Mongolia. There is no reason to question the willingness of other governments to followup on decisions taken at the Conference. Rather, the question of the capacity of ICNRD as a movement to encourage follow-up and implementation needs to be raised.

In Doha, the establishment of a permanent Secretariat of the ICNRD, which has been regularly debated since 1997, was discussed by the governmental component. Certain governments took the view that what may begin as a small, flexible Secretariat would most likely grow into a bureaucratic international organization that would require significant financing and the matter was once again left in abeyance. The consistent refusal to "professionalize" the ICNRD leaves the movement faced with a chicken-and-egg situation: does effective follow-up capacity depend on the availability of resources, or can resources only be devoted to mechanisms that have proved themselves to be effective?

Beyond solving this equation, the challenge for ICNRD is to clearly identify the movement's objectives, to prove its comparative advantage over other international and regional initiatives to promote democracy, and to further clarify its relations with the United Nations.

The joint follow-up mechanism adopted in Doha is an intermediate solution whereby the governments have majority representation, with one representative each for parliaments and civil society. The Parliamentary Meeting, meanwhile, has decided to set up its own follow-up mechanism, to be known as the Parliamentary Meeting-Democracy Advisory Commission (PM-DAC). The principal task of the PM-DAC will be to support implementation of the recommendations contained in the Doha Parliamentary Plan of Action. These recommendations encourage parliaments to take specific action to become ever more representative, transparent, accessible, accountable and effective, and thus to contribute strongly to the development of democracy in their country. The Qatari Parliament, the IPU and the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union have been entrusted with the responsibility of convening the PM-DAC, which will be funded by the Qatari Government.

One peculiarity of the Parliamentary Meeting is that parliamentarians attend on behalf of their parliament, but do not have the authority to speak in their parliament's name, unlike government representatives. Parliamentary delegations generally reflect the political configuration of each parliament and views therefore tend to be diverse and divergent within each delegation. The Parliamentary Plan of Action therefore limits itself to "encouraging" parliaments to take a certain number of measures, without any obligation for them to do so.

While follow-up can be driven by the organizers of the Parliamentary Meeting (IPU, Arab Inter- Parliamentary Union and Advisory Council of Qatar), and mechanisms such as the PM-DAC, the responsibility for acknowledging, considering, implementing and evaluating the recommendations contained in the Plan of Action ultimately lies with parliaments themselves. The level of parliamentary commitment to following up on the recommendations will be a key factor in determining the contribution that parliaments are able to make to strengthen the ICNRD movement.