ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen

Italy has a thirty-year tradition of populist parties, starting with the foundation of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) in 1993 . Since then, the Italian parliament has counted anoth- er three major populist parties – Northern League (Lega...

The parliamentary culture in the three levels of government in Switzerland (federal, can- tonal, and municipal) differs in various ways from the parliamentary customs and practices in other European countries, particularly in Germany and Austria ....

The political system of Switzerland is a decentralized, federalist, multiparty-system in which power-sharing plays an important role . The separation of powers is strong, so that Parlia- ment (Federal Assembly) assumes its functions independently...

The cantonal parliaments were an important organ of the liberal revolution in the 19th century to democratize Switzerland . There was even a parliamentary supremacy in the cen- tury before last . But what has become of this powerful position? For...

Communes form the third tier of the Swiss state structure and are organized differently from a political perspective . Parliaments are one possibility . In some Cantons, parliaments are the mandatory organizational form, while other Cantons lack the...

From 2020 to 2023, Spain was governed for the first time since the Second Republic (1931 – 1939) by a coalition of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) and the left-wing alliance Unidas Podemos (UP) . Despite, or perhaps because of, their...

The parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey of May 14, 2023, were considered crucial . Contrary to pollsters’ predictions, the expected swing did not materialize, and the AKP secured an absolute parliamentary majority through a...

Like (almost) all other areas of life, the parliamentary public sphere is also being signifi- cantly changed by digitalization . Many work processes benefit from digital possibilities, but it is precisely the “social” networks that contribute to...

In the current debate on the causes of “unequal democracy”, the perspectives of members of parliament have hardly been taken into account, despite their expert status and their important role in representative democracy . This article therefore...

How is parliamentary communication changing as a result of parliaments, committees, and MPs using digital media? There are three important changes . First, parliamentary commu- nication is becoming more pluralized; more parliamentary voices are...

Erdoğan’s success in the May 2023 presidential election came as a surprise to many . It masks long-term changes in Turkey’s party system . One constant, however, is the strong support for Erdoğan in many Western European migration societies ....

When David Cameron wanted to become Prime Minister in 2010 he had to accept a Fixed-term Parliaments Act to cement the Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government . Under the rules of the Act the prime minister no longer had the authority...

In the fall of 2017, before the Bundestag elections, the 18th German Bundestag decided that in future the first session of a new election period would no longer be opened by the oldest member in terms of years of age, but by the one who has been a...

After a rather boring election campaign the Social-Democrats (SPD) managed to achieve the position of the strongest party again which they lost to the Christian-Democrats (CDU) in 2019 . The CDU and the Left Party defended more or less their last...

Until 2017 “two blocks” dominated the French political party system . Alternative governments of the left and of the bourgeois-conservative camp have alternated since the 1960s . Due to the drastic losses of the traditional parties as Les...

Coalition negotiations play a key role in government formation, but they have not been analyzed much in detail . In Germany, the past decades have seen an ongoing differentiation of their organization, leading to a complex multi-level negotiation...

The “doppelter Pukelsheim”, as the biproportional divisor method with standard rounding is colloquially called, enjoys great popularity in Switzerland . For good reason: the new method of distributing parliamentary seats among the parties better...

Private political financing is protected by constitutional law . Private persons supporting political parties by donations, sponsoring or other financial instruments exercise their fundamental right to political participation . However, private...