ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

After the 2021 Bundestag election, the composition of parliament changed considerably . With 736 mandate holders, the Bundestag has more members than ever before, and more than 38 percent of them are newcomers . The article uses Adalbert Hess’...

On the backdrop of the numerous proposals for the reform of the electoral law in recent years here variations of multi-member regional constituencies are inspected, each of which elect several representatives to the German parliament (Bundestag) ....

The new federal government of SPD, Greens, and FDP has set itself an ambitious agenda . For its implementation, government personnel is of considerable importance . This article examines how standard recruitment criteria for top executive positions...

The Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences had a significant impact on the social, politi- cal, ecological, and economic life over the past nearly two years . How the political parties’ handled the Covid-19 crisis was therefore also said to have...

Lowering the voting age for federal elections in Germany from 18 to 16 years has been discussed for several years . Numerous political forces endeavor to give minors the opportu- nity to participate in democratic decision-making by lowering the...

Following five hypotheses derived from the research literature, the results of the 2021 Ger- man federal election are analyzed on several dimensions: The voting behavior of East and West Germans differs in particular with regard to CDU/CSU and the...

While party competition is generally dominated by the conflict between government and opposition parties, the analysis finds interesting variations between opposition parties . Over the last few electoral periods, a clear convergence in the voting...

With now almost 50 years of service as a member of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble is a parliamentarian dyed in the wool . He has earned great merits not only in parliament but also in the government . Schäuble’s activities in the CDU were less...

The German federal election 2021 took place under exceptional conditions, and unusual were its course and outcome, too . The election year was marked more than ever by crises, making expected management of future crises a relevant topic . Voting was...

In light of the growing interest in voting by mail, political science research has increasingly focused on this important aspect of democratic participation . Studies in this field have scrutinized the practical implementation of the mail ballot . A...

The formation of the traffic light coalition and the government of SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and FDP after the Bundestag election in 2021 was conducted in a structured pro- cess, characterized by ongoing institutionalization compared to the past...

Germany’s representative election statistics, which accompany the Bundestag elections since 1953 (except 1994 and 1998), are unique in the electoral world . They show the effective voter turnout in ten age classes as well as gender- and age-based...

The campaign for the 2021 federal election was exceptional, because Angela Merkel con- cluded her political career . The usual duel between an incumbent chancellor and the candi- date of the second strongest party therefore did not materialize ....

To understand the 2020 local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the electoral results are placed in the context of past election results in the state to test the impact of structural characteristics of the largest cities on local electoral...

On September 26, 2021, the eighth state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania took place, in parallel with the federal election . It resulted in a clear victory for the SPD, which governs the state with changing coalition partners since 1994 and...

The German electoral law is a permanent object of criticism . This is mainly due to the Bun- destag’s size, which grew to a record of 736 MPs in 2021 . Key reasons for this growth are surplus and compensation seats which are hard to explain to the...

The 2021 federal election was special in several respects with regard to the role of the can- didates for chancellor . For the first time, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen entered the competition with their own candidate, resulting in a three-way race for...

Multiple debates were held on TV in the 2021 German federal election campaign between the chancellor candidates Armin Laschet (CDU/CSU), Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Annelena Baerbock (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) . For the last three televised debates...

Contributions to parliamentary debates are based on democratic legitimation by general elections, whereas discussions in social media consist of the expression of personal opinions . It is of importance to parliaments not to mix up those different...