| Article |
|---|
| Article name |
Political Parties of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Present Stage |
| Authors |
|
| Bibliographic description |
Spassky E. N. Political Parties of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Present Stage // Transbaikal State University Journal. 2023. Vol. 29, no. 2. P. 196–204. DOI: 10.2109/2227-9245-2023-29-2-196-204. |
| Category |
Politology |
| DOI |
329.05 (430) |
| DOI |
10.2109/2227-9245-2023-29-2-196-204 |
| Article type |
Original article |
| Annotation |
The topic of the paper is research on the relationships among the political parties
of the FRG after the federal election for the 20th German Bundestag (2021). The
purpose of the research is to study the factors that determine the development of the
German party system at the present stage. The research objectives are as follows: the
analysis of the balance of forces between governing and opposition parties after the
election for the Bundestag; the explication of the factors of stability and conflictogenicity
within the governing coalition; the characteristic of the results of the 2022–2023
regional elections as an intermediate result of the interparty competition; and the study
of the present political potential of the parliamentary opposition. The research resulted
in the identification of the specific features of the interparty distribution of power during
the current legislature period; the description of the scenarios within the governmental coalition as well as amongst the Parliamentary opposition; the explication of the reasons
for instability and potential risks for the existing government; and the analysis
of factors that stabilize the actions of the latter and ensure the government against
possible disintegration or collapse. The conclusions of the research are as follows: the
major domestic factor in the preservation of the governing coalition is the weakness of
the SPD’s key competitor – the CDU/CSU Union – which does not allow the latter to
offer a real political alternative to the government in power. The intermediate results
of the activities of the governing coalition testify to the existence of a tension amongst
the coalition members. This refers especially to its minority partners – Alliance 90 /
The Greens and FDP which are balanced by the Social Democrats. The results of the
2022–2023 regional elections became important indicators of their political influence
for the German political parties. Examining these results through the prism of competition
between the “people’s parties” – CDU and SPD – leads to the conclusion that
their competition proceeded with varying success. The Greens turned out to become
the absolute winners of those regional elections. The political well-being of the opposition
parties vary. The CDU/CSU Union is undergoing the stage of reconstruction and
gradual gain in its public impact. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is also gaining in
popularity. The Left Party is undergoing a structural crisis and the ways of the crisis
resolution found by the party will determine its further existence and the place within
the German party system. |
| Key words |
Federal Republic of Germany,
political parties, party system,
Bundestag, parliamentary
elections, electorate, political
competition, governing
coalition, regional elections,
opposition |
| Article information |
|
| References |
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| Full article | Political Parties of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Present Stage |
