Today's democracies require a greater demand for participation in public life and government decisions by citizens and civil society organizations, and a constant improvement in the quality of the representation by legislators. Against this backdrop, parliaments, the main democratic forum of nations, face the new challenges of the 21st century. These challenges have to do with legitimacy, the level and quality of the representation of citizens by legislators; a higher complexity resulting from scientific and technological progress and constant innovation in a world under a process of rapid and continuing transformation; and the growing prominence of the Executives, among others.

At the Austral University School of Government, the Center for Parliamentary Studies, Research, and Forward-Looking Planning proposes to contribute via education and training, research, forward-looking planning and university outreach service of excellence, for a better understanding, empowerment, and effectiveness of representative entities, especially parliaments, their organizations, legislators, and parliamentary personnel, within the context of their local and national realities, and their regional and international projection.