The French Parliament and the Conflicts in Libya and Syria

The theory and practice of diplomacy has evolved greatly over the past few decades. Parliamentary diplomacy has become common practice, although there is an academic gap in its study, especially in the case of France. This essay aims to filling that gap: it shows how French parliamentarians have been active in foreign policy. First, they used the new concept of “responsibility to protect„ (R2P) in 2011 over Libya. Then, in the case of Syria, their main focus was on reacting to the 2013 use of chemical weapons by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Later still, after several Daesh terrorist attacks in Paris, they moved on to emphasize the right of “self-defense.”