The Changing Face of German Parties in the Federal System

Abstract

There is significant potential for contradiction between the logic of party competition in the German federal system, which points to conflict, and the logic of federalism itself, which is intended to resolve conflict and achieve consensus both vertically and horizontally. One significant reason for the federalism reforms of 2006 being introduced lay in the fact that the logic of party competition was perceived to be “blocking” the German state, with policy conflict being able to be unlocked by passing more powers into the exclusive competence of one or the other tier of government. If Germany really has seen a shift in its territorial politics, we would expect to see changes in several aspects of its party system in the Länder. This chapter sets out to grapple with an overarching puzzle: to what extent is there a “regionalisation” of the German party system, with distinctiveness existing within the same national party? And, if there is greater distinctiveness, to what extent can parties still fulfil a function of coordination, vertically and horizontally? Our analysis demonstrates how across all dimensions the sub-national level is extremely important in structuring party politics in Germany.