ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

The Schleswig-Holstein local election system features four problematic aspects, which are associated with paradoxical effects that are not appropriate to the local context. These include the fact that individual candidates sometimes do not receive a...

Since the 1970s, the party systems of European democracies have undergone fundamental changes. In all countries, the centrist parties that had shaped political life for decades lost support among the electorate. The first phase of change was...

The end of the so-called “traffic light coalition” in November 2024 demonstrated once again that party coalitions in Germany sometimes end prematurely – that is, before the regular end of the legislative period. Against this background, this...

Amid a constitutional crisis caused by the sitting President’s self-coup attempt—abuse of martial law power and mobilization of military troops—in December 2024, the Korean parliament, the National Assembly, played a key role in swiftly...

The Speaker of the House of Representatives plays a key role in the U.S. political system; their decisions and leadership styles have far-reaching impacts on national politics. However, conflicts within the Republican Party have damaged this office...

With Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, his brand of nationalist populism has firmly established itself as the ideological and organizational guiding force of the Republican Party. Internal critics have been sidelined, Congress is loyal,...

The 2024 U.S. presidential election marked a historic turning point: Donald Trump became the first president since Grover Cleveland to return to the White House after an electoral defeat. Winning 312 to 226 electoral votes and 49.8 percent of the...

The second Trump Administration is proving tumultuous for the German-American relationship. Ever-changing U.S. policies on trade, tariffs, taxes, defense, as well as on conflicts like Russia-Ukraine have already weakened the Transatlantic...

The 2024 U.S. elections did not only produce with Donald Trump a new (and also old) president, at the same time the entire House of Representatives as well as a third of the Senate were re-elected. The Republicans managed to keep their thin majority...

Together with the banning of political parties and the destruction of parliamentarism, National Socialism transformed the referendum, ostensibly to strengthen the people, into an instrument of approval democracy without the opportunity for...

Around 1970, the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in numerous countries in the western world. However, previous studies dedicated to the voting age were limited to a national framework of analysis and neglected international developments. Using...

Donald Trump not only won a convincing victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, but also managed to attract a large number of voters outside the Republican core electorate. The article discusses this development with a special focus on...

Lawmaking requires specific skills that must be learned and taught – no one is born a policy maker and legal drafter. The state acts in central areas through lawmaking, and every technical flaw causes enormous socio-economic costs. In order to...

This article examines the effects of the new electoral law for the 2025 federal election, in particular the problem of “uncovered constituencies”. The new second-vote coverage procedure means that direct candidates only receive a mandate if...

The combined local elections in Thuringia on May 26 and June 9, 2024 were seen as a precursor to the state elections on September 1, 2024. After the AfD won its first county executive (Landrat) post and emerged as the strongest party in the state...

The final phase of the election campaign was dominated by the struggle between the SPD and the AfD to become the largest party. The polarization and mobilization resulted in the historically highest turnout of 72,9 percent. The SPD won the election...

The eighth state election in the Saxon Free State – 35 years after the peaceful revolution – was particularly eagerly awaited because of the following question: Will the AfD, which clearly became the strongest party in the state in both the 2021...

The Thuringian state parliament election on September 1, 2024 was a vote on the red-red-green minority government of the last election period. The voters' verdict was very clear, the governing parties suffered a dramatic defeat; the Greens even...

Why does the business community in Germany now see excessive bureaucracy as the biggest competitive disadvantage, even more so than the shortage of skilled workers and energy costs? Why are complaints from the public about incomprehensible and...

Local politicians act as key players in municipal self-governance, navigating the tension between rising expectations and limited room for maneuver while maintaining direct contact with citizens. Based on 38 interviews, this study examines how...