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The Left Party in Opposition

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The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics

Part of the book series: New Perspectives in German Studies ((NPG))

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Abstract

There is plenty of evidence to indicate that the Left Party in government has developed into a reliable, ideologically pragmatic and eminently ‘normal’ political party. This, of itself, should not be altogether surprising. But what of the Left Party’s branches elsewhere? Is there evidence that the other eastern German Landesverbände are watching, learning and emulating the pioneers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin?1 Are they perhaps, on the contrary, scowling and scolding from a distance, becoming ever more resolute in their wish not to lose that radical touch and become part of the political establishment? Or are Land political arenas small, more or less independent, worlds that force Left Party politicians to forge their own individual paths, no matter whether they are keen to do so or not? Put another way, although Left Party branches in other parts of the country are not compelled to do so, can we see evidence of ‘Green-like processes’ elsewhere even though the branches have not (yet) been in government? This chapter tracks the behaviour, in terms of both programmatic development and political strategy, of the Left Party in two states where it is, and always has been, a party of opposition.2 Most of the analysis stems from detailed case studies of Saxony and Brandenburg.

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7 The Left Party in Opposition

  1. We concentrate exclusively on the eastern party branches for the simple reason that the western branches are (much) smaller in terms of both members and of influence within the party and, of course, they are all a long way from entering western Landtage, let alone western Land governments. For analysis of the Left Party’s position in western Germany see Viola Neu, Am Ende der Hoffnung: Die PDS im Westen ( Bonn: Konrad Adenauer Foundation, 2000 )

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  6. Although the Left Party in Saxony-Anhalt has not, strictly speaking, been in government it acted as a support party to, firstly, an SPD-Green administration and then an SPD minority government for eight years between 1994 and 2002. For reasons of clarity and consistency we therefore leave the Saxony-Anhalt case to one side for now. For more on the role and function of support parties see Tim Bale and Torbjörn Bergman, ‘A Taste of Honey is Worse Than None at All? Coping with the Generic Challenges of Support Party Status in Sweden and New Zealand’, Party Politics, 12 (2), 2006: 189–209.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sussex, UK

    Dan Hough (Senior Lecturer in Politics)

  2. Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences, Humboldt University, Germany

    Michael Koß (Visiting Scholar)

  3. University of Wisconsin-Parkside, USA

    Jonathan Olsen (Associate Professor of Political Science)

Authors
  1. Dan Hough
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  2. Michael Koß
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  3. Jonathan Olsen
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© 2007 Dan Hough, Michael Koß and Jonathan Olsen

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Hough, D., Koß, M., Olsen, J. (2007). The Left Party in Opposition. In: The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics. New Perspectives in German Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230592148_8

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