Parliamentary activities and party communication

Abstract

Before I turn to the testing of the hypotheses H7 through H11 on the relationship between parties’ communication behavior and parliamentary activities, I introduce this chapter with a brief account of the major features of parliamentary activities in the German Bundestag from 2005 to 2009. During the 16^th legislative term, the German Bundestag convened in 233 plenary sessions that took place every two to three weeks, usually with two to three consecutive sessions in a sitting week (n = 81).