To what extent has Germany's party system evolved from a multi-party system to a 2 Block system in recent years?

food to go round. As a result of the considerable humanitarian problems in Germany the allies had a free

hand in the creation of the new constitution with little interest and input from the people. The German

constitution was drafted in 1948-49 and was called a Basic Law rather than a constitution in order to avoid

giving it a sense of permanence as the German people did not want Germany to be permanently divided.

Germany’s national parliament is elected by proportional representation on the basis of universal suffrage.

The parliament has two chambers: the Bundestag (Federal parliament) comparable to the House of

Commons in the UK has 603 members, elected for a four year term, 299 members elected in single-seat

constituencies and 299 members allotted to realize a proportion to their total vote and extra seats because of

this compensation. The Bundesrat (Federal Council) has 69 members representing the regional

governments, the members of the council are not directly elected. The power of the central government is

restricted due to the AMS electoral system which usually results in a coalition government, it is rare that a

single party has a majority of seats and therefore policy making is cooperative and tends to rely on horse

trading between parties.                              

The West German party system between 1949-1990 has been characterised by three phases of

development. The first phase of development (1949-57) was characterised by fragmentation. “Avoidance of

excessive party system fragmentation was an important precondition.  There seemed to be little prospect for

this at the outset. Several parties with a strong regional base entered into the competition and the enormous

social upheaval caused by war, flight and expulsion had created special interests which the main political

parties found difficult to accommodate.”  The Western allies allowed the formation of political parties and

the result was widespread representation with the reincarnation of many former parties for example the

SPD (the oldest social democratic party in Europe founded in 1835). A second key party to emerge was the

Christian Democratic Party (CDU). This was a successful, centre right party capturing votes from all

sections of German society. For twenty years after WW2 the CDU was the dominant party supporting

market economy and favouring a strong Welfare State. The third key party to emerge was the FDP, a

liberal party. This was a small party, never reaching more than 15% of the votes, yet has been a part of

German government for longer than the CDU and SPD and has been a key player in coalition governments.

“In West Germany, the first Bundestag (federal parliament) election in 1949 produced a fragmented

multiparty array but also established the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats as pre-eminent

contenders for power.” Twelve parties were represented in the first German Bundestag and nine smaller

parties received over 20% of the vote. This is not unusual for new democracies especially when the

electoral system is new and social cleavages have not yet settled. The German political system was based

upon a 5% threshold in 1949, whereby parties could only be represented if they received this percentage of

the votes. However it is important to note that in 1949 this only applied at regional level and not at national

level.

The second phase of development in 1953 saw fragmentation become a thing of the past. The 5% threshold

was applied nationally and between 1957-63 the West German party system became one of the most stable

of the Western European countries. During this time there was very little change, it was a 2+ party system

consisting of the CDU, SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). During this time the strong middle

ground was occupied by two main parties and the voting reciprocated this. The CDU and SPD received

around 90% of the vote in 1976. This resulted in the development of a triangular party system whereby the

CDU, SPD and the liberal party (FDP) could all go into coalition with each other. The choice of which

party to form a coalition with was dependent on specific issues for example the FDP could choose to form a

coalition with whichever party supported its own beliefs and ideals. The German party system has

undergone major changes “both in respect of the total number of effective parties and the ideological

distance between the various political tendencies. A large number of parties, a high level of fragmentation

in the party system, and a complex cleavage structure (class, religion, centre – periphery, anti-communism

versus communism, and native population versus refugees and exiles) characterised the party system in the

first and second legislative periods (1949-57).”

The third phase of government was characterised by the Green Party. The emergence of the Green Party for

the first time in parliament took place in 1983. The Green Party was seen by many as a post modernist

political party, it was “anti-establishment, against inner-party elitism, perhaps even an anti-party party.” 

The party was not concerned with traditional issues but more concerned with so called quality of life issues

for example the environment, peace and nuclear disarmament. However this was all to change “after first

entering the Bundestag in 1983, the Greens were soon to experience the ‘parliamentary embrace’ and

become a more conventional political party.” The emergence of the Green Party shook the German party

system by providing itself as another option for the two major parties to share a coalition with.

Following the collapse of the communist regime in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) there

was a great deal of public and political pressure for reunification. Chancellor Helmut Kohl seized the

opportunity and in November 1989 the Berlin wall was brought down, economic union with the West

occurred in July, and on the 3rd October 1990 political reunification took place under what had been the

West German constitution. The speed with which reunification actually occurred took everyone by surprise.

In little more than a year, the German Democratic Republic disintegrated and its territory was absorbed into

the Federal Republic with no serious opposition and amid widespread public rejoicing, both at home and

abroad. That such a step was able to take place, owed much to the fact that reunification had always been a

central political goal of the Federal Republic itself. Yet until 1989, though widely desired and much

discussed since the creation of the two separate states, reunification had apparently become a distant and

ever dimmer prospect, despite a continuing ritual devotion to it on the part of all the major political parties

in the Federal Republic.

Nonetheless reunification in 1990 was seen as a time of make or break for the German party system.

Unknowns were thrown into the equation as nobody could predict how an extra twelve million voters

would choose to vote. The elections that took place in December 1990 showed initial signs of further

fragmentation which was epitomised through the materialization of the Party of Democratic Socialism

(PDS). The PDS was the successor to the East German Communist Party and was seen to be a far left party

which accepted market economy but with more of a social element. It was seen as a way for East Germany

to fight for important issues of relevance to the area. The party received a substantial amount of popular

support almost exclusively from East Germany shown by the elections in 1994 where they polled 4.4% of

the national vote.

It can be argued that the definitive move towards the two-block party system in Germany took place during

the 1998 Bundestag election. “Until the 1998 election the German party system had remained exceptionally

stable, with two major parties, the CDU, the SPD and the FDP holding the balance between them. This

‘triangular’ pattern of government came to an abrupt end in 1998 when the SPD was first able to share

government with the Greens.” The Red-Green coalition (SPD and the Green Party) on the one side versus

the CDU and the FDP on the other has proved that a two-block party system has become established.

Nevertheless critics of the two-block system were uncertain as to whether or not the Red-Green coalition

would be strong enough to withstand a second election and in turn secure evidential support for the

existence of a solid two-block party system. Yet the most recent German election in 2002 has to an extent

proved the existence and the survival and durability of the two-block system for the time being, “The SPD-

Green formation held firm – somewhat against expectations – and was narrowly successful in the 2002

election” winning 306 of the 603 member seats available. The SPD-Green coalition has seen the two

parties grow to depend on one another in a “reciprocal relationship which is both competitive and

cooperative.”

The extent to which Germany’s party system has evolved from a multi-party system to a two-block system

in recent years can be virtually unquestionable at this moment in time as one can argue that this has indeed

taken place. However there is uncertainty over how long the two-block system will last as in theory things

could change dramatically: “The stability of the two-block party system…remains questionable. In

principle, the “right-block”, CDU and FDP, should be cohesive, but the FDP may have become an

unreliable partner…On the left, the SPD and Greens appear to have found much common ground but with

the German economy increasingly under pressure, difficult decisions will have to be made over the next

few years and there is not guarantee that the coalition will hold firm until the next federal election

scheduled for 2006.” Furthermore the FDP which before the emergence of the Green Party held the

balance of power may play a key role in the continuance of the two-block system, “While the FDP seems to

have lost its traditional position of ‘King maker’ in the German party system, it may still be regarded as an

important player at Bundestag elections when it comes to securing the symmetric ‘two-block’ party system

structure that emerged in the aftermath of German unification.” Whether or not the two-block party

system is strong enough to continue cannot be taken for granted as there are uncertainties on both the left

and the right, “But it is difficult to see at this stage what might take its place, especially since electoral

behaviour is far less certain and is likely to become even more fluid in the face of Germany’s economic

difficulties.”

Bibliography

Colomer (ed.), Political Institutions in Europe, 2nd edition (2002)

Helms, “Perspective government and opposition in unified Germany”, Politics 19/3, (1998)

Helms, “The 1999 European Elections in Germany”, Politics 8/3. (1999)

Lanes (ed.), Germany since Unification (1997)

Larres (ed.), Germany since Unification, The Domestic and External Consequences (1998)

Padgett, Paterson, Smith (eds.), Developments in German Politics 3 (2003)

Pogunkte, “The German party system: eternal crisis?”, Politics 10/2, (2001)

 

Pulzer, German Politics 1945-1995 (1995)

 

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