Home
Architecture
Art
Beauty/Health
Beer
Business/Economy
Cars
Celebrities
Christmas
Dictionaries
Education
Fashion/Clothes
Food
Galleries
Gays/Lesbians
Genealogy
German Names
Germans Abroad
History
Holidays
Homework Help
Learn German
Law
Literature
Loveparade
Movies
Music
Nazi
News
Oktoberfest
Philosophy
Today in History
Traditions
Travel to Germany
Wines
More topics...
Facts About Germany
Armed Forces
Education
Economy
History
Geography
Mass Media
Politics
Society
German History
Early History
Medieval History
Thirty Years' War
Weimar Republic
Third Reich
Postwar
Honecker Era
Berlin Wall
Bismarck
German Recipes
Salads
Main Dishes
Desserts
Baking
German Chocolate Cake
Easter Dishes
Halloween Dishes
Christmas Dishes
How To in Germany
Articles
Quizzes
|
Free Democratic Party of Germany
The Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei--FDP) is much smaller
than the CDU or SPD, but its limited electoral strength masks the party's
inordinate influence. Prior to the 1994 election, the FDP had experienced
its worst results in national elections in 1969 (5.8 percent) and 1983
(7 percent). Both of those poor showings occurred following an FDP decision
to switch coalition partners. Beyond these two exceptions, between 1949
and 1990 the FDP averaged 9.6 percent of the vote in national elections.
Given its pivotal role in governing coalitions, the FDP has held over
20 percent of the cabinet posts during its time in government.
The FDP served in coalition governments with the CDU from 1949 to 1956
and from 1961 to 1966. As of mid-1995, it has governed with the CDU since
1982. The FDP governed in coalition with the SPD from 1969 to 1982. The
remarkable amount of time that the FDP has spent in government has been
a source of continuity in the German political process. FDP ministers
carry a detailed knowledge of government personnel and procedures unsurpassed
among the other parties.
The central role played by the FDP in forming governments is explained
by the fact that a major party has been able to garner an outright majority
of Bundestag seats only once (the CDU, in 1957); thus, the CDU and the
SPD have been compelled to form coalition governments. Therefore, the
FDP has participated in every government except the one from 1957 to 1961
and the Grand Coalition of 1966-69. Because the SPD and CDU/CSU enjoyed
roughly equal electoral support, the FDP could choose with which major
party it wished to align. This ability to make or break a ruling coalition
has provided the small FDP with considerable leverage in the distribution
of policy and cabinet positions. To take one example, as of mid- 1995,
the FDP, in the person of Klaus Kinkel, led the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
which it has held since 1969. The most prominent member of the FDP, Hans-Dietrich
Genscher, served as foreign minister from 1974 until his resignation in
1992.
The FDP was created in 1948 under the chairmanship of Theodor Heuss,
who served as the first president of the Federal Republic, from 1949 to
1959. The party's founders wanted the FDP to revive the liberal party
tradition of pre-World War II Germany. Although there was some initial
debate over what was meant by "liberal," the party did articulate a political
philosophy distinct from that of the two major parties. The FDP gave precedence
to the legal protection of individual freedoms. Unlike the SPD, it supported
private enterprise and disavowed any socialist leaning, and, unlike the
CDU/CSU, it envisioned a strictly secular path for itself. In the early
1990s, the Free Democrats remained closer to the CDU/CSU on economic issues
and closer to the SPD on social and foreign policy. Many Germans view
the FDP as the party of the middle, moderating the policies of both major
parties.
Following the 1949 national elections, the FDP emerged as a natural ally
of the CDU/CSU, most importantly because of a congruity of economic policy.
During the mid- to late 1960s, the FDP, under the leadership of Walter
Scheel, went through a transformation of sorts, shedding its conservative
image and emphasizing the reformist aspects of its liberal tradition.
Its new focus on social concerns resulted in an SPD-FDP coalition in 1969.
The party's new direction was ratified at the FDP's 1971 party congress,
which endorsed a program of "social liberalism." As economic conditions
worsened in the early 1980s, however, the FDP returned to its earlier
advocacy of economic policies more conservative than those endorsed by
the SPD. The FDP was most concerned with the growing budget deficit, whereas
the SPD gave priority to the impact of the economic downturn on workers.
The FDP abandoned the coalition with the SPD in September 1982, shifting
allegiance to the CDU/CSU. The FDP lost considerable electoral support
in the 1983 federal election but regained strength in the 1987 election.
The Free Democrats benefited initially from unification, garnering 11
percent of the vote in the first all-Germany elections in December 1990.
In part, the FDP's popularity in the east was directly attributable to
Genscher, an eastern German by birth who played a leading role in negotiations
over the international agreements that made unification possible.
In light of the FDP's strong showing in the 1990 election, it is perhaps
surprising to note that, by the time of the 1994 national election, the
FDP was, in many ways, a party in crisis. It had lost representation in
every Land that held elections in 1994, and thus the FDP has
no seats in any eastern Land legislature. Minister of Foreign
Affairs Kinkel had been elected party chairman in 1993, and some critics
felt that the two posts had overwhelmed him, leading him to perform inadequately
in both. Other observers, however, argued that it was the party's message,
rather than its messenger, that needed revamping. Increasingly, the FDP
found it difficult to differentiate its policy from that of Kohl's CDU.
Given the fact that the FDP had performed so poorly at the Land
level in 1994, there was much speculation as to whether the party would
cross the 5 percent hurdle in the national election. FDP politicians breathed
a collective sigh of relief when the party garnered 6.9 percent of the
vote when Germans went to the polls in October 1994. Reportedly, the FDP
had over 500,000 CDU voters to thank for this outcome, because they gave
their second votes tactically to the FDP to ensure a victory for Kohl.
One poll showed that 63 percent of those who voted for the FDP gave the
CDU as their preferred party.
The structure of the FDP is decentralized and is loosely organized at
all levels. The party basically is a federation of Land organizations,
each maintaining a degree of well-guarded independence. The national party
headquarters lacks the power to orchestrate activities at the Land
level, and the formal party institutions--the Federal Executive, Presidium,
and party congress--are weak. The FDP deemed this lack of centralization
necessary to accommodate differences within the party, particularly between
economic conservatives and social liberals. The FDP has never sought to
be a mass party, and its members accordingly have little influence on
decision making.
* Christian Democratic Union/Christian
Social Union
* Social Democratic Party of Germany
* Free Democratic Party
* The Greens
* The Republikaner and the
German People's Union
* Party of Democratic Socialism
- The
Chancellor
- The President
- Legislature
- Bundestag
- Bundesrat
- Electoral System
- Political Parties
- Extraparty Political
Forces
- Geography (lands and
capitals, climate)
- Society (population,
religion, marriage, urbanization, social structure, immigration)
- Education (elementary,
junior, senior, vocational, higher)
- Economy (the Economic
Miracle, financial system, Bundesbank, business culture)
- Politics (government,
the Chancellor, the President, parties, Bundestag)
- Mass Media (newspapers,
radio and TV)
- Armed Forces (army,
navy, air forces, police)
|
|