ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

With 261 in 1987 and as many as 81 candidates in the last federal election non-party actors are a numerically significant group. Taking into account the legal framework, the development of the German party system, the election results since 1949 and...

Each method for solving the problem of apportionment after an election has its own history of origin. The German Constitutional Court decided that the equality of votes or rather its best possible fulfilment has to be the main criterion. None of the...

Many studies have analyzed lobbying systems as a whole, but so far only very few have examined the role of interest groups in the German Bundestag’s committees: which lobbying structures can be found in these committees, how important are interest...

Numerous studies have shown that online media have become important for the political information and communication of members of parliament. Thus, the question arises whether the extension of the media repertoire of parliamentarians to online media...

Turnout rates in federal elections have fallen and reached their lowest point in 2009 with a rate of 70 .8 percent. Existing research identifies political discontent of the poorly educated social class as the main driving force of nonvoting....

Germany’s new Federal Electoral Act has sparked sustained criticism, especially with regard to ist tendency of increasing the number of Bundestag mandates well beyond previous levels. This effect is seen as a trade-off inherent to mixed-member...

The failure of the FDP to re-enter parliament after the 2013 Bundestag elections as well asthe influx of over more than 200 new parliamentarians led to a shift in the occupationalstructure of the German Bundestag. Using Adalbert Hess’...

In the fall of 2009 a hardly known form of policy advice received public attention: Foryears, a number of federal ministries contracted law firms with the drafting of bills. Althoughconcerns have been raised about democratic legitimacy and the...

The German Bundestag is considered as being among the national parliaments with themost extensive “war powers” worldwide. However, its influence on decisions about the foreigndeployment of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, is not only...

Iceland experienced a hard financial crisis, but could employ a rather successful crisis management.The country, however, generated international admiration because of the deliberativeconstitutional reform attempt, which finally shipwrecked...

Turkey’s accession to the European Union is a contentious issue and led to explicitly controversialdebates in the German Bundestag during the period of the red-green coalitionbetween 1998 und 2005. The historical and moral responsibility as well...

The concept of European elections as second-order national elections serves as the basis fordeveloping seven hypotheses about the orientations as well as the turnout and the electoralbehaviour at European elections in comparison to national...

Home Affairs is one of the most controversial policy fields both within nation states andthe European Union. Moreover, the NSA affair has led to an increasing awareness of internalsecurity based on information and communication technology (ICT)....