What are Social Action Coalitions

Social action coalitions are self-conscious, freely organized, active, and lasting alliances of elites, organizations, and citizens who share partially overlapping political goals and a basic commitment to peaceful change. Synergy between the strength of civil society, the vitality and credibility of parliaments and political will are essential to improving governance and building strong social action coalitions. Partnerships like these between parliaments and social action coalitions draw on the strengths and interests of societies to monitor abuse of wealth and power.

Parliaments
Parliaments are most effective at monitoring corruption when they encourage, protect, and articulate the concerns of society. Parliaments that consider social interests and exercise true autonomy and oversight with the executive effectively represent civil society and strengthen its role in the public arena. Parliaments can carry out these function when they represent citizens, legislate, oversee the executive, self-regulate parliamentary processes and political finance systems.

Parliaments, “Political Will,” and Civil Society
Active, democratically-elected, well-managed parliaments can build accountability, become an arena for well-regulated political contention, and add force and focus to citizen concerns. They scrutinize executive policy and decisions and hold leaders to their promises at a level of detail beyond the reach of reform-oriented interest groups.

But parliaments can also be vulnerable to corruption. Some Members of Parliament may:

In response to such temptations, the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) encourages parliamentarians of networking among Members and parliaments and of sharing enlightened views of the legislative and oversight processes through education efforts. Actions such as these are essential to coalition-building. GOPAC sees parliaments and their members as parts of a web of institutions, communications, and political processes that draw together citizens, interest groups and advocates, and all segments of government. Organized, active citizens are critical to providing Members and leaders with important resources and reinforcement. Parliamentarians who take this approach will be challenged in the short run, but become more effective in the long run. This is partly because they build a more secure, popular base for themselves, as they are working more in the interest of the people.