ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

In its ruling of January, 17 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) cannot be prohibited because there are no indications that it will succeed in achieving its anti-constitutional aims ....

Apart from some turbulence in the middle of the legislative period, the “Coastal Coalition”, including the SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and the SSW, was able to follow a stable and smooth course . Results in many previous elections in...

The principle of “effective functioning of the opposition” in parliament is well recognized in German constitutional debates . It gained new interest due to the forming of a “Qualified Grand Coalition” (supported by more than 75 percent of...

Interpretation and application of constitutional law are often influenced by theoretical presuppositions, which then finally determine the content of constitutional law . In particular this can be observed in the periphery of the democratic...

The role of parliamentary opposition in the German Bundestag is under scrutiny . With the establishment of a Grand Coalition and ongoing party fragmentation, how can an opposition, which lacks to achieve the required quorums, be an effective one?...

When researching the history of constitutions since 1945, topics chosen have often been the executive branch or the national parliament (Bundestag) while at the same time the history and the development of the state parliaments have been seriously...

How were political parties in the political philosophy of the German pre-March (“Vormärz”) 1815 till 1848 perceived? A revision of some long-standing prejudices in favor of a more benign view on the pre-March concept of political parties is...

The constitutional right of parliament to request information from the government is a defining part of the system of checks and balances within the separation of powers between the executive and the legislative branch . Most importantly, the scope...

From 1945 to the late 1980s, Austrian parliamentarism was characterized by coalition governments that secured a significantly high number of seats in parliament . Ever since, opposition parties have continuously gained seats and the political party...

In what ways do political parties shape policymaking in the German single states? This question is analyzed by the interrelation of government coalitions and policy formulation in the field of animal welfare policy . The study reveals that major...

Comparing Donald J. Trump’s achievements in his first hundred days with those of his predecessors in the White House, the picture regarding the realm of domestic policies looks ambivalent . The political agenda of the Trump-administration has seen...

Barack Obama wanted to be a transformational president in the mould of Franklin D. Roosevelt - he was not . According to Stephen Skowronek’s leadership types, Obama was a “preemptive” president who had to make political concessions to the...

Republican Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States on November 8, 2016 after a campaign run on domestic issues, a lot of “post-truth” populism and fearmongering about social and economic decline . The shift from Barack Obama...

The outcome of the 2016 presidential election once again maintained the coherence of the American two-party system . Strong institutional barriers prevent third parties from breaking the political duopoly of Democrats and Republicans . Though...

In the 2016 Congressional elections in the USA, the Republican Party succeeded in confirming its majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives . Although they lost two seats in the Senate and six seats in the House they managed to...

Unlike in parliamentary systems, policy-making in the United States is not driven by political parties . Their roles have been assumed by “issue networks” or “advocacy coalitions”, whose like-minded participants - members of the...

Under which conditions can a constituency be counted as safe? This question is especially important for parties and candidates, yet has found different answers among scholars . Based on results since the 1998 Bundestag election the article...

The events of 2016 challenged several well-established theories about the nature of U .S . presidential primary campaigns: that the party itself would ultimately control the nomination process; that an efficient campaign organization on the ground...