Uber Sinn und Zweck des Parlaments heute. Ein Essay zum Auftakt

In: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen: ZParl, Volume 36, Issue 3, p. 473-488

Abstract

In over 55 years since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, parliamentarism has proven a success in which the Bundestag has played a major role. This success can be substantiated by any legitimate comparison -- either to other parliamentary democracies or to examples from Germany's history. In the same time period, however, academia, the media & the general public have continuously emphasized a decline of the Bundestag's impact: in its control over the executive branch, in being infiltrated by lobbyism, in no longer exercising creative power in legislation, in losing power to commissions, party circles & mass media & in increasingly lower quality of its members & obsoleteness due to Europeanization & globalisation. Looking at these arguments, it remains puzzling why German parliamentarism has been able to survive & why it has become a role model for many other countries. The assertion that the Bundestag has lost influence is not based on empirical evidence but is rather a result of thought traditions from all periods of German history as well as deficits regarding pragmatism & realism. A detailed look at how the Bundestag functions in a modern, open, & pluralistic society reveals that many of the common patterns of criticism have been left over from past ways of thinking which do not grasp the cultural achievements & the indispensable role of modern parliamentarism. Adapted from the source document.