ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

So far, the literature on descriptive youth representation in parliaments has mostly focused on the national and occasionally in federal states on the subnational level. We broaden this focus by analyzing the local level that often serves as an...

Public officials play a particularly important role in the work of parliamentary committees of inquiry. Thanks to their official knowledge, they can explain contexts to members of parliament that cannot be gleaned from reading files alone. In...

In the direct election of the mayor of Ludwigshafen in 2025, the candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was not allowed to stand for election because of doubts about his loyalty to the constitution. The AfD criticized this as “a...

This article examines the limits of government information and expression activities in the context of parliamentary debates. It explores the extent to which members of the government are subject to a duty of political neutrality when speaking in...

The German Bundestag is caught in an endless cycle of tortuous amendments of its electoral system. Past attempts were restricted by retaining the traditional ballot design. Without this restriction new options become feasible. The article outlines a...

With its ruling of December 10, 2024, on signature quorums, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court abandoned the principle that strict constitutional control is necessary when parliamentary majorities act on their own behalf. Instead,...

Parliamentary party groups (PPGs) are crucial actors within the German Bundestag. As such, they fundamentally contributed to both the stability and the performance of Germany’s representative democracy after its new formation in 1949. Building on...