ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

Whereas second chambers in most Westminster-Systems tend to be subject of reform or abolition efforts, the Australian Senate managed to defend its outstanding strong position within Australia’s system of government . Australian exceptionalism of...

The article provides an in-depth case study of the genesis of the first parliamentary standing orders of the German Bundestag in 1951 . Descriptively, there is a strong continuity when comparing the standing orders of the Reichstag’s internal...

Roll call votes provide crucial data for the study of parliamentary behaviour . A novel data- set on all recorded votes in the Bundestag between 1949 and 2013 combines information on MPs’ individual voting behaviour with contextual information on...

Publicity of parliamentary sessions is a basic principle of parliamentary democracy and enables the People to “control” parliament . However, a dictate of general transparency of par- liamentary work does not follow from this . The principle of...

The “heute show” (broadcast on ZDF, a public-service television broadcaster) is a satirical news show that has gained great attention within the political public sphere of Germany over the last couple of years . The show reaches a broad public...

The elections of the Canadian House of Commons 2015 surprised by an electoral victory of the once dominant Liberal Party of Canada which had been marginalized in the 2011 general election . The earthquake victory of the Liberals who were able to...

In order to investigate how five possible coalitions were evaluated by the mass media and how citizens formed their coalition expectations a content analysis and a telephone survey were conducted during the campaigning of the 2013 German national...

Coalition governments are often a normal condition in the political life of democracies. Thus, in Germany some combinations – like the “black-yellow”, the “red-green” or also the “grand” coalition – are very common. With new parties...

Reacting to the Eurozone crisis the German Bundestag has changed its role in European policy. Indeed, this crisis served as a catalyst for the Bundestag to use its participation powers both more extensively and more effectively. Legal gaps that...

In fundamental aspects the management of the third Grand Coalition does not differ from the conflict handling in other coalitions. The importance of coalition agreements as an instrument of conflict reduction has grown, although it tends to decrease...

At two recent occasions the State Parliament of Baden-Wurttemberg used the instrument of time-limited committees of enquiry. After analyzing the lawfulness of such time-limitations the conclusion is reached that they are legal. Installing...

Pre-election polls in the run up to the 2013 general election saw the liberal party FDP consistently over five percent. At the end of election night, however, the party failed to surpass the five-percent electoral threshold and consequently – for...

Die Bundestagswahl am 22. September 2013 hatte eine Reihe von bemerkenswerten Ergebnissen. Die Wahlbeteiligung stieg erstmals seit 1998 wieder. Zum ersten Mal seit einemhalben Jahrhundert konnten die beiden grosen Parteien gleichzeitig...

The question whether it is institutional rules or political-cultural features that explain fluctuations in parliaments is examined for the sub-national level in Switzerland for all 26 cantonal legislatures between 1960 and 2012. The findings clearly...

A free profession of survey research – just as a free press – serves as a corrective to a democratic government. A free survey research poses a threat to authoritarian regimes. That is why most authoritarian regimes try to gain control over...

In order to establish whether published polls influenced the voters’ decision-making processes in the run up to the German parliamentary election 2013 the cognitive effects on the development of voters’ expectations regarding election results...

In the run up to the German federal election of 2013, forecasts about who would win attracted considerable attention. Leaving casual punditry aside, the more serious forecasts were predominantly based on opinion polls. Polls offer a good snapshot in...

Am 7. November 2014 war der Liedermacher Wolf Biermann von BundestagsprasidentNorbert Lammert in den Bundestag eingeladen; „zum Singen“, wie Lammert spater eroffnete.Wolf Biermann nutzte aber die Gelegenheit, um zu reden. So bezeichnete er die...

a considerable impact on voters (and in turn on election results). However, research in this field should analyze the necessary conditions for poll effects in more detail in order to understand these postulated impacts. Opinion polls can only affect...