ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

This article is dedicated to capturing the wide array of topics ZParl has been covering since its inception in 1969. ZParl’s mission has always been to serve as a “mirror” for parliamentary research. Four focal points came to the fore of our...

Based on survey data from April 2018, this article demonstrates that the “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD) has emerged from a “gap of representation” as perceived by a relevant percentage of German voters. In addition, the dimensions are...

The 1968 legislation succeeded in transforming the state of emergency in Germany: it no longer entails the executive’s overwhelming prerogative. Hence, Parliament’s rights and structures as well as the constitutional state and its functioning...

Despite the pivotal position chairpersons of the parliamentary party groups (PPG) in the German Bundestag hold, they are substantively understudied. In particular, there is no scholarly work on the chairpersons’ power to steer PPGs. This study...

The comprehensive digitization of communication does not exclude parliamentarism. It encroaches on its working methods as well as on its operation mode. Authenticity, directness and originality of parliamentarian debates are declining. Integrity and...

Britain’s constitution has radically changed. Long standing and firmly established principles of the former “political constitution“ - like parliamentary sovereignty - are being questioned and go so far for them being labelled as...

The present picture, which can be drawn from the German party democracy, is a hazy one: On the one hand, for some time now the turnout and the number of party members has been rising again. On the other hand, it is difficult to argue that the...

The committees of the Bundestag are often understood as the place where the real work of parliament takes place. Surprisingly, they have not been studied very thoroughly in empirical political science. This is, in part, due to their work not being...

Using the analytical tools of V.O. Key’s “theory of critical elections” and Peter Hall’s concept of paradigmatic “third order change”, the article places democratic electoral processes in changing socio-historical contextual...

In the face of its historic, tragic discontinuity, the revival of German parliamentarism in the mid-20th century shows that institutional development is not necessarily path-dependent. Contingent factors shaped the revival. One contributing factor...

A healthy balance between trust and criticism is seen as an ingredient of democratic government. Starting from this normative assumption, the article analyses whether and to what extent the public’s enduring negative view on politicians might...

Although the term “mistake” is used regularly when political actions are judged, so far (German) political science has not developed a substantial concept of policy mistakes. Nevertheless, a holistic and policy-oriented concept of state error...

Landesgruppen are groups consisting of MPs from the same German state in a parliamentary party . Their meetings, committee and parliamentary group meetings are firmly anchored in the work routine of the Bundestag . Political science literature,...

The numbers of interpellations differ between the Bundestag and the German Land parliaments . These differences can be attributed to the setting of a deadline and the actual length of time that is used by governments for answering the questions ....

The study of legislative behavior, party cohesion, and discipline is an important body of research in the study of parliaments . The present article adds to this literature by zooming in on a specific case - the voting patterns of the members of...

While the right-wing populist AfD has become the primary proponent of plebiscitary measures in Germany, parties of the left are now approaching direct democracy with increasing skepticism . One reason can be found in the sobering experiences that...

Political homophily and the confirmation bias lead to the development of echo chambers and information bubbles spurned by online participation . To a certain extent, this contradicts other empirical results, which detected a high level of conflict...

The results of the recent German federal election show a general increase in votes for small parties and consequently a growing number of non-represented votes in the German Bundestag . In order to solve this issue, the concept of a spare vote...

From a democratic-theoretical perspective, research on direct intra-party democracy has received only little attention . The case of SPD’s decision to once again have its members decide on whether to enter another Grand Coalition after the 2016...

Minor questions can be seen as one of the oldest and the most important tools for oversight by the opposition parties in the German Bundestag . The parliamentary statistics at the end of each legislative term give evidence how frequently they are...

The manipulative use of so-called social bots on the Internet is increasingly regarded as a problem and danger to the public and to democracy . At the same time, however, research regarding the political use of social bots is nascent . Up to now,...

Proportional voting systems with open lists differ in the number of votes, the options to split and cumulate votes, and in additional mechanism like an allocation of list seats or electoral thresholds for candidates . The example of the elections in...

The German Bundestag election in 2017 lead to the largest parliament since the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany, namely to comprising 709 deputies . Since the last reform of the electoral law in 2013, the parliament’s extensive...

How did political parties apply Twitter during the 2017 German election campaign? Can we find similarities and differences in their communication tactics? These questions guide this study, which focuses on parties’ goals (vote seeking, office...