On August 7, the new format of the “Wissenschaftsforum” at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences held its first public panel discussion. Dr. Michael Kolkmann (University of Halle) and Dr. Philipp Adorf (University of Bonn) shared their insights from years of research on U.S. politics about the upcoming elections in the fall of 2024….
The Parliament of Austria organized the Day of Parliamentary Research that brought together academics with practitioners and journalists to discuss curret insights and perspectives on parliaments. Sven T. Siefken held a presentation on the early stages of bill drafting and led a panel on “democratic resilience”. More about the event can be found here. The…
The State Parliament and the State Government of Schleswig-Holstein brought together 400 citizens and experts to review the experience of the Covid crisis. A symposium, held a the State Parliament in Kiel, investigated the various societal sectors that were affected. Sven T. Siefken served as moderator of the discussion on „State and Law“. A recording…
Are democratic institutions and bureaucracy losing their functionality? This were key topics of a conference held at the Akademie für politische Bildung in Tutzing. Sven T. Siefken gave a talk on informality in politics, analyzing coalition negotiations, expert advisory commissions and coalition management. More about the conference can be found here https://www.apb-tutzing.de/Tagungsprogramme/2023/39-4-23-programm.pdf
The German association for parliamentary affairs (DVParl) held an inspiring meeting and academic discussion in the Bundestag on the changes and challenges for parliamentary communication in times of digital media. More can be found here https://dvparl.de
The Research Committee of Legislative Specialists is meeting during the 2023 World Congress in Buenos Aires. Organizing various panels it brings together perspectives on Parliamentary Oversight, Second Chambers, Parliamentary Party Groups, Parliaments in the Pandemic, Parliamentary Development. Sven T. Siefken is serving as convenor, panel chair, discussant and paper presenter. More on the panels by…
Speaking truth to power? Or just symbolizing it? Sharing thoughts on the changing role of expertise in policy making – and how it relates to Parliament, Sven T. Siefken spoke at the International Commission of Jurists, held in the Bundestag. More here
The Institute for Parliamentary Research (IParl), Berlin, and Sven T. Siefken brought together a large group of scholars for a workshop discussing current threats to parliamentary democracy. The meeting was held at the Reichstag building in an open format to debate the various developments in democracies around Europe and grapple with the question how to…
On March 17, the German Bundestag passed the electoral reform bill after heated debate. It will limit the size of parliament at 630 members and uphold the principles of personalized proportional representation. March 16 and 17, Sven T. Siefken participated in a workshop of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, discussing the electoral reform and its consequences.
„Parliaments in Crises – Crises in Parliaments“ was the title of an international workshop held in Taipei, Taiwan in February 2023. Sven T. Siefken jointly organized the academic program and presented a paper on how parliaments and crises are related.
The Research Committees 08 (Legislative Specialists) and 13 (Democratization in Comparative Perspective) of the International Political Science Association jointly set up a conference within the Southern Political Science Association‘s Annual Conference, held January 11 to 14, 2023 at St Pete Beach in Florida. Conference organizers Irina Khmelko (University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, USA), Adam Szymański (University…
Providing redress for maladministration is a key requirement of any legitimate system of public service delivery. During the 6th. International Conference on Public Policy, held in Toronto, Canada, 27-29 June 2023, Eckart Schroeter and Sven T. Siefken organize a panel that explores different ways of holding public authorities and agents of public service delivery accountable….
In the German Studies Association conference in Houston, Texas, Barbara Donovan, Eric Langenbacher and Sven T. Siefken convened a three-day seminar on the “New Challenges to German Politics and Policy”. Scholars from the United States, Canada and Germany presented their research and discussed the findings. Sven T. Siefken presented a paper on Changes or Constitency…
What impact did the pandemic and other crises have on the work of parliaments, both at the member state and the European level? First findings on the topic from various ongoing research projects were brought together in an outreach workshop in Wrocław, Poland, by Professor Aleksandra Maatsch, The Jean Monnet Chair at the Centre for…
In May 2022, the Academy of Sciences organized a workshop Revisiting Parliaments in Pandemics. Keynote speaker Sven T. Siefken presented first findings of the second wave of a global expert survey ‘Parliaments in Pandemics’. Conducted in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the survey focused on how the pandemic changed the legislatures’ roles and, in particular, electoral, legislative, oversight, communication and representation…
Mit der Rolle der Parlamente in der Covid-19-Krise befasste sich ein internationales Panel an der Bar-Ilan University, das am 14.1.2021 von 15:00 bis 16:30 Uhr (MEZ) stattfand. Vorgestellt und diskutiert wurden Erkenntnisse und Forschungsvorhaben zu verschiedenen Ländern, unter anderem Italien, das Vereinigte Königreich und mehrere “illiberal democracies” im Vergleich. Sven T. Siefken sprach zur Rolle…
Ausschüsse werden häufig als die wichtigste Einheit von Parlamenten verstanden. Doch was genau in ihnen passiert, ist nur wenig erforscht. Für das Research Committee of Legislative Specialists (RCLS) der IPSA hat Sven T. Siefken gemeinsam mit Hilmar Rommetvedt (Stavanger, Norwegen) und Pablo Oñate (Valencia, Spanien) im Oktober 2019 einen vergleichenden Workshop zur Rolle der Parlamentsausschüsse…