Current News

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The European Parliament has been active in supporting and strengthening parliaments around the globe. Looking back at 10 years of activities, the EP Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group organized a high-level-conference in Brussels to discuss experiences and the way forward, November 29 to 30, 2022. Sven T. Siefken participated as an academic commentator, his remarks can be viewed in the videocast below, starting at 16.37 min.

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After a corona-related cancellation last year, the 15th "Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians" organized by Lord Norton took place in July 2022. Participants from nearly thirty nations gathered at the venerable Wroxton College. Danny Schindler presented findings from the SOPiP Project showing that the institutional design of parliamentary groups varies considerably across countries.

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Oxford Handbooks provide relevant and up-to-date overviews of the state of research in various disciplines. In their contribution to the Oxford Handbook of German Politics, Suzanne S. Schüttemeyer and Sven T. Siefken examine the German Bundestag as a "core institution" at the center of the constitutional order of the German political system.

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Das Institut für Parlamentarismusforschung (IParl) möchte als Forum zum Parlamentarismus dienen. Regelmäßig wird deshalb ein Forschungskolloquium zu Themen des Parlamentarismus und „verwandter“ Gebiete wie der Parteien- oder Wahlforschung abgehalten. Interessierte sind herzlich eingeladen.

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Parliamentary Party Groups (PPGs) are the central institutional link between voters, parties, and parliaments. In its current composition, no less than 16 PPGs are present in the Croatian Parliament (Sabor), a peak value in European comparison. The trend towards fractionalization in Sabor has steadily increased in recent years. The article explores the causes, compares „PPG Thresholds“ internationally and outlines reform options.

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On 8 June, the Interparliamentary Union presented a catalogue of indicators for democratic parliaments based on the Sustainable Development Goals 16.6. and 16.7. and comprising almost 500 individual criteria. The compilation process has been accompanied by IParl since 2019. The catalogue is intended to help parliaments worldwide to assess their own capabilities and, on this basis, to improve the conditions for democratic governance.

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On 27 June 2022, the Office of the European Parliament, the Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics at the University of Wroclaw, in partnership with the Institute for Parliamentary Research, is organising a workshop on "Representative Democracy in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities". Registrations for the hybrid workshop are still open.

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The 2022 Thesis Prize for Parliamentary Law of the French National Assembly was awarded to Calixte Bloquet for the thesis: "On the outskirts of the French Parliament: The Delegation for Women’s Rights. A sociology of the National Assembly and legislative work" (Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne). The award ceremony is planned for spring 2023. We congratulate Calixte on this outstanding achievement.

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The digitalization of human life has impacted many aspects of politics in the last two decades. Intra-party decision-making is one of them. However, not much is known about how intra-party selectorates evaluate the digitalization of a crucial decision-making process. Calixte Bloquet, Isabelle Borucki and Benjamin Höhne ask whether party members who participate in candidate selection support online consultations - or not.

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The world has faced major global crises during the last years: the financial and the climate crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently the war on Ukraine. These situations are often understood as a natural “hour of the executive”, and this created new challenges for parliaments. The goal of the workshop in Taipeh, Taiwan, is to understand how parliaments can respond to crises, uphold their influence, and how this can support public understanding and institutional trust.