Legislative Decision-Making in the German Reichstag, 1867–1918: A New Dataset of Roll Call Votes

Abstract This research note introduces a novel and comprehensive dataset of parliamentary membership spells and roll call votes taken in the German Reichstag between 1867 and 1918. After discussing the collection, cross-validation, and organisation of the data, it describes the development of various features of the Reichstag, its members, and their voting behaviour over time. Through its extensive temporal scope and broad diversity in the content of votes covered, the data offer new opportunities for studying the development of political parties and party competition, the adoption of major policy innovations and reforms, as well as decision-making in the constitutional assembly and subsequent democratization and de-democratization episodes. A scaling analysis of the number and nature of the Reichstag’s political conflict dimensions illustrates its utility. The results indicate that the conflict space was two-dimensional throughout the Empire’s existence, which might have contributed to stabilising the Kaiser’s authoritarian rule.