Political Science German Politics and Government
by
Louise K. Davidson-Schmich
  • LAST MODIFIED: 28 October 2020
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0321

Introduction

Due to Germany’s prior history of foreign aggression, its important role in the contemporary global economy, and its unique social market economy, the post–World War II German political system has been widely studied by both German- and English-speaking scholars. This article begins by outlining some general overviews of German politics and history as well as textbooks and academic journals covering the subject. It also includes links to leading German-language news sources. It then turns its attention to German political institutions and depicts treatments of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government followed by studies of multilevel governance at the European, state, and local levels. The subsequent section delves into the important role played by political parties in Germany; this section also explores treatments of individual parties. Then the bibliography covers the German electoral system, voting behavior, and specific national elections. It then covers scholarly treatments of the political elites. The discussion then turns away from formal political institutions and leaders toward the societal influences on them. This portion of the article begins by examining literature on political culture, immigration, and social movements in Germany. The final portion of the bibliography focuses on interest groups and policy making in a number of areas, including economic and foreign policy.

General Overviews

A good place to start in situating the Federal Republic of Germany’s current politics it to familiarize one’s self with the German past. The past manifests itself in a myriad of ways today, often as attempts to overcome previous authoritarian forms of government, including the 1933–1945 Nazi regime and the German Democratic Republic’s communist regime, which fell in 1989. Fulbrook 2019 provides just such a brief overview of German history, including a chapter summarizing the country’s contemporary, democratic, political system. Katzenstein 1987, a foundational work, depicts then West Germany as a “semisovereign” state; this description fits the post-unification German government as well. McAdams 2001 focuses on post-unification attempts to deal with injustices committed under communism. Edited volumes, Anderson and Langenbacher 2010 and Jarausch 2013 take stock of united Germany two decades after the communist regime fell and unified with the western portion of the country, a stable democracy and economic powerhouse. Lang, et al. 2017, a special issue of the journal German Politics, revisits developments in German politics a quarter century after unification, considering which of the changes to the system were driven by domestic factors and which came about because of international influences.

  • Anderson, Jeffrey, and Eric Langenbacher, eds. From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Germany at the Twentieth Anniversary of Unification. New York: Berghahn, 2010.

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    This edited volume contains chapters written by leading scholars of German politics and paints a vivid portrait of German culture, politics, and economics twenty years after German unification. Also published as a special issue of German Politics and Society 28.1, available online, and German Politics and Society 28.2, available online by subscription or purchase.

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  • Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany. 3d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.

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    This brief history of Germany contains a chapter summarizing Germany’s post-unification political system.

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  • Jarausch, Konrad H., ed. United Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects. New York: Berghahn, 2013.

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    This edited volume traces key aspects of united Germany’s politics, including the political process of unification and the newly enlarged country’s economic, social, cultural, and foreign policies. Contributors include many leading German scholars writing in English.

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  • Katzenstein, Peter J. Policy and Politics in West Germany: The Growth of a Semisovereign State. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.

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    This seminal work demonstrates how postwar West Germany was structured with an absence of central authority and the presence of institutions forcing cooperation among different societal actors. These structures include coalition governments, federalism, para-public institutions, and the state bureaucracy. Katzenstein examines how these institutions have shaped policymaking in six areas, including economic management, industrial relations, social welfare, migrant workers, administrative reform, and university reform.

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  • Lang, Sabine, Joyce Marie Mushaben, and Frank Wendler. “German Unification as a Catalyst for Change: Linking Political Transformation at the Domestic and International Levels.” In Special Issue: German Unification as a Catalyst for Change: Linking Political Transformation at the Domestic and International Levels. German Politics 26.4 (2017): 443–456.

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    This article introduces a special issue of the journal German Politics written on the twenty-fifth anniversary of German unification. The special issue links the Federal Republic’s post-unification transformation to supranational and global developments, highlighting unification’s impact on the political party system, migration and asylum reforms, gender roles, and German foreign and security policy.

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  • McAdams, A. James. Judging the Past in Unified Germany. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

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    Examines the attempts by united Germany to deal with injustices committed in the German Democratic Republic. Topics include shootings at the Berlin Wall, parliamentary truth telling commissions, lustration policies for civil servants, and the return of nationalized private property.

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Textbooks

Textbooks developed for use in undergraduate courses provide excellent general overviews of the German political system. These sources provide detailed descriptions of German political institutions as well as information about the country’s political culture and society. Each covers a range of public policies. Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 offers the most detailed treatment of the specifics of the German political system. Lemke and Welsh 2018 situates the country in a broader comparative context, while Roberts 2016 focuses on the historical development of the country’s political system. Green, et al. 2012 offers a concise overview. Germany’s Federal Agency for Civic Education offers a wealth of German-language information about all aspects of German national politics, designed to educate German citizens. There are also State Agencies for Civic Education detailing information about state-level politics.

  • Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung).

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    This German government agency provides expert, nonpartisan online articles about virtually any topic related to German politics. These resources are written in the German language.

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  • Green, Simon, Dan Hough, and Alister Miskimmon. The Politics of the New Germany. 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 2012.

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    Provides a brief overview of German history and coverage of contemporary German political institutions and party politics, economic, immigration, and foreign policies.

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  • Langenbacher, Eric, and David P. Conradt. The German Polity Eleventh Edition. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.

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    This very detailed treatment offers in-depth descriptions of German political institutions, including the country’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches along with the federal system, local governments, and semi-public institutions. In addition, it also examines German history, the country’s current social setting, and political culture. Additional chapters cover the Federal Republic’s party and electoral systems and citizen voting behavior. A final chapter treats German foreign and European policy.

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  • Lemke, Christiane, and Helga A. Welsh. Germany Today: Politics and Policies in a Changing World. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.

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    This textbook takes a comparative politics approach and introduces the German political system in comparative context. Chapter 2, “Power Distribution in a Complex Democracy” (pp. 17–48), describes the book’s overall purview, which treats parties and elections, citizen attitudes, immigration, economic, and foreign policy.

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  • Roberts, Geoffrey. German Politics Today. 3d ed. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2016.

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    This introduction to German politics takes an institutional approach and stresses Germany’s role as a “party state.” It traces the historical origins of this political system and assesses whether Germany has become a “normal” democracy. It also contains chapters on electoral politics, the important role played by the chancellor, the legislative branch, interest groups, federalism, and the Federal Republic’s role in Europe.

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  • State Agencies for Civic Education (Landeszentralen für politische Building).

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    Each German state has its own Agency for Civic Education to provide German-language, nonpartisan information about state-level politics. This link connects readers to a list of each state’s agency.

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News Media

Germany has a rich array of daily and weekly newspapers and magazines of various political hues. The Federal Republic’s two public television stations also broadcast daily fifteen-minute evening news shows in addition to longer, in-depth reports. Deutsche Welle (DW) (cited under Newspapers) is a government-funded news agency providing English-language news coverage about Germany for foreign audiences. DW also broadcasts in Spanish and Arabic.

Newspapers

Germany’s weekly newspaper of record is the weekly Die Zeit and the daily paper with the largest circulation is the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The more conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is also widely read, along with the financially focused Handelsblatt, noted for its economic coverage. The die tageszeitung, also known as the taz, takes a progressive, ecological slant on the news, and Neues Deutschland is the heir to the communist-era newspaper of record, taking a leftist stance. Finally, the nonpartisan Deutsche Welle (DW) is a government-funded, English-language news outlet, designed to inform a foreign audience about the Federal Republic.

News Magazines

In addition to reading daily newspapers, Germans are also avid consumers of weekly news magazines. The two largest-circulation sources are Der Spiegel and Stern.

Television News

Germany has two publicly-run television stations providing high-quality, nonpartisan news coverage every day. “Channel 1” (ARD) has a daily program called the Tagesschau and “Channel 2” (ZDF) offers one entitled Heute. Their websites also feature links to more in-depth reporting on specific issues. Both ARD and ZDF sponsor the phoenix television channel; it also provides a broad array of German-language political news in addition to airing live coverage of Bundestag parliamentary debates.

Academic Journals

Two main English-language academic journals focus exclusively on German politics. German Politics is the official journal of the International Association for the Study of German Politics. Articles are generally written by political scientists or students of international relations and are known for their social scientific rigor. German Politics and Society is a joint publication of the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Articles in this publication are written by scholars from a host of academic disciplines and cover cultural in addition to political topics. The official journal of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) is the Politische Vierteljahresschrift (PVS), or the German Political Science Quarterly. Its articles appear in German and English and cover all areas of political science, not just German politics. The same is true of the Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, which also includes a section on teaching political science in German universities. Similarly, Germany’s Federal Office for Political Education publishes Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, featuring short German-language academic articles on current political topics written for the general public. Like those in the PVS, articles appearing here cover a range of political science topics, not only German politics. Finally, the Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen, modeled after the US-based Congressional Quarterly, focuses exclusively on legislative politics, mostly in Germany but with some comparative perspective.

Political Institutions

In an effort to prevent a repeat of the Nazi seizure of centralized political power, the framers of Germany’s Basic Law (equivalent to its constitution) created a very decentralized political system. The sources in this section of the article focus on the many branches and layers of this system. First it covers the executive, legislative, and judicial branches and then focuses on the multiple layers of government in Germany, including its embeddedness in the European Union, its federal system, and its system of local government and public administration.

Executive Branch

Germany’s executive branch is divided among the symbolic head of state, the federal president (Bundespräsident); the head of government, called the chancellor (Bundeskanzlerin); and her cabinet.

Chancellor (Bundeskanzlerin)

Germany has been described as a “chancellor democracy” where the head of government plays a pivotal role. Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 (cited under Textbooks) provides an overview of this feature of the German political system and brief historical portraits of Germany’s former chancellors. Its current chancellor, Angela Merkel, is the focus of Mushaben 2017. Davidson-Schmich 2011 discusses the implications of the fact that Merkel is Germany’s first female chancellor. Helms, et al. 2019 examines her leadership to date. The Chancellor’s Office official website is also cited.

  • Chancellor’s Office. Berlin: Press and Information Office of the Federal Government.

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    This is the official English-language website of the German Chancellor’s Office.

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  • Davidson-Schmich, Louise K. “Gender, Intersectionality, and the Executive Branch: The Case of Angela Merkel.” In Special Issue: Gender, Intersectionality, and the Executive Branch: The Case of Angela Merkel. German Politics 20.3 (2011): 325–341.

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    This introduction to a special issue of German Politics about Merkel’s first term as chancellor outlines what might be expected of the country’s first female chief executive.

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  • Helms, Ludiger, Femke van Esch, and Beverly Crawford. “Merkel III: From Committed Pragmatist to ‘Conviction Leader’?” In Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change. German Politics 28.3 (2019): 350–370.

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    Examines Merkel’s leadership style during her third term when she was confronted with an unexpected refugee crisis.

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  • Mushaben, Joyce Marie. Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017.

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    Both an overview of Merkel’s chancellorship, focusing on key policy areas including energy, migration, and foreign policies, and a biography of the first female chancellor set against the backdrop of German history.

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President (Bundespräsident)

While the president is largely considered a ceremonial figure, Strohmeier and Wittlinger 2010 examines the potential for this head of state to have political influence. The Bundespräsidialamt official website is also cited.

Coalition Government

Germany’s electoral system ensures that rarely does a single party enjoys a parliamentary majority. As a result, legislative coalitions need to be formed to reach the majority needed to elect a chancellor and her cabinet. Bräuninger, et al. 2019 detail the increasingly difficult process of government formation in Germany, and Saalfeld, et al. 2019 explains how recent coalitions have held together to govern the country. The Political Documents Archive (cited under Multilevel Governance) contains copies of coalition agreements at the national and state levels in Germany.

  • Bräuninger, Thomas, Marc Dubus, Jochen Müller, and Christian Stecker. “Party Competition and Government Formation in Germany: Business as Usual or New Patterns?” German Politics 28.1 (2019): 80–100.

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    This piece explores the history of government formation in Germany and documents the increasing complexity of this process, focusing especially on the aftermath of the 2017 election.

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  • Saalfeld, Thomas, Matthias Bahr, and Olaf Seifert. “Contractual Arrangements, Formal Institutions and Personalised Crisis Management: Coalition Governance Under Chancellor Merkel (2013–2017).” In Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change. German Politics 28.3 (2019): 371–391.

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    Examines how Chancellor Merkel managed her coalition with the Social Democratic Party. The authors argue the coalition was able to survive the entire legislative period not because of its detailed coalition agreement but rather due to strategic portfolio allocation and informal mechanisms of conflict resolution.

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Legislative Branch

Germany’s legislative branch features a bicameral parliament, with a lower chamber called the Bundestag and an upper chamber called the Bundesrat. Germany’s legislative politics have been widely studied. Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 (cited under Textbooks) provides a detailed overview of Germany’s legislative process. The Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen (cited under Academic Journals) features the most up-to-date research on parliamentary politics. Koβ 2019 discusses the evolution of Bundestag decision making in comparative context. Patzelt 1995 explains the roles played by members of Parliament. The official English-language websites of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat are cited.

  • Bundesrat.

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    This is the official English-language website of the upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat.

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  • Bundestag.

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    This is the official English-language website of the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag.

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  • Koβ, Michael. Parliaments in Time: The Evolution of Legislative Democracy in Western Europe, 1866–2015. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

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    Examines the evolution of decision making in western European parliaments, including the German Bundestag. Koβ classifies the Bundestag as a “working legislature” in contrast to “talking legislatures” found in countries like the United Kingdom. He argues that the German parliament combines decentralized agenda control with powerful committees.

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  • Patzelt, Werner J. Abgeordnete und Ihr Beruf: Interviews, Umfragen, Analysen. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1995.

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    This landmark German-language book is based on interviews with members of the Bundestag, detailing their personal understanding of their roles as representatives of the German people.

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Judicial Branch

The Basic Law includes a third branch of government in the Federal Republic with the ability to check the executive and legislative branches: a judicial branch led by the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). Komers and Miller 2012 explains how the court fits into the division of powers within Germany and the European Union. Collings 2015 discusses how the court helped promote democracy in Germany after World War II. Rogowski and Gawron 2016 offers a comparison between constitutional jurisprudence in Germany and the United States. The website of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) is also included.

  • Bundesverfassungsgericht.

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    This is the official website of the German Constitutional Court, the Bundesverfassungsgericht.

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  • Collings, Justin. Democracy’s Guardians: A History of the German Federal Constitutional Court, 1951–2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

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    Discusses the origins and development of Germany’s highest court, its role in democratizing Germany following a dictatorship, and how it has come to be a highly trusted branch of government.

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  • Komers, Donald P., and Russell A. Miller. The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany. 3d ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.

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    Depicts the Constitutional Court’s powers granted by the Basic Law, its position vis-à-vis other branches of government, and its history of protecting the human rights and freedoms of the German people.

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  • Rogowski, Ralf, and Thomas Gawron. Constitutional Courts in Comparison: The U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court. 2d ed. New York: Berghahn, 2016.

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    This edited volume compares the highest courts in Germany and the United States in terms of access and case selection, decision making, and verdict implementation.

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Multilevel Governance

Political power in Germany is divided not only among different branches of government but also among different levels, ranging from the European to the national, state, and down to the local level. The sources here depict these various levels in more detail, as do articles available in the Federal Agency for Civic Education (cited under Textbooks). Holtmann, et al. 2017 provides a German-language introduction to local politics and Bogumil and Jann 2009 to local public administration. The Local Manifesto Project is a database of local political party manifestoes. Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 (cited under Textbooks) provides detailed descriptions of the various German states, or Länder, and Germany’s system of fiscal federal system. Jeffrey, et al. 2016 discusses the impact of reforms to German federalism in the 21st century, and Turner’s article studies state-level policymaking in 2011. Bräuninger, et al. 2020 discusses party competition at the state level and the Political Documents Archive is a database of state-level party manifestos and coalition agreements. For a detailed discussion of Germany’s embeddedness in the European Union (EU), see Lemke and Welsh 2018 (cited under Textbooks). Börzel and Risse 2007 focuses on the impact of the EU on Germany’s domestic politics.

  • Bogumil, Jörg, and Werner Jann. Verwaltung und Verwaltungswissenschaft in Deutschland: Einfürhrung in der Verwaltungswissenschaft. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009.

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    A textbook introduction to German public administration.

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  • Börzel, Tanja, and Thomas Risse. “The EU and Domestic Politics.” In Handbook of European Union Politics. Edited by Knud Erik Jørgensen, Mark A. Pollack, and Ben Rosamond, 483–504. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2007.

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    Summarizes the impact of the European Union on the domestic politics of its member states, including Germany.

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  • Bräuninger, Thomas, Marc Debus, Jochen Müller, and Christian Stecker. Parteienwettbewerb in den deutschen Bundesländern. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS, 2020.

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    Discusses political party competition as it plays out in the German states and analyzes party competition in the Federal Republic’s system of multilevel governance.

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  • Jeffrey, Charlie, Niccole M. Pamphilis, Carolyn Rowe, and Ed Turner. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Reframing German Federalism.” In Special Issue: Reframing German Federalism. German Politics 25.2 (2016): 165–175.

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    This special issue of German Politics examines the 2006 reallocation of competences between the national and state governments. Reforms shifted some areas of legislative responsibility to states and weakened rules allowing the central government to override Länder. As a result, the authors argue, policy outputs are now more likely to diverge from one Land to another than earlier in the Federal Republic’s history.

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  • Holtmann, Everhard, Christian Rademacher, and Marion Reiser. Kommunalpolitik: Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer, 2017.

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    A German-language textbook providing a basic introduction to local politics in Germany.

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  • Local Manifesto Project.

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    A database including almost a thousand party manifestoes for local elections in German cities of over 100,000 inhabitants. Some date back to 1990 while most come from the 21st century.

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  • Political Documents Archive.

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    A database including German state-level political party manifestos and state-level coalition agreements. It includes documents from the federal level as well.

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Political Parties

Germany has been described as a “party state” where multiple political parties exert a large influence over politics and policymaking. Roberts 2016 (cited under Textbooks) provides a good introduction to the many functions parties perform in the German political system. Bräuninger, et al. 2020 (cited under Multilevel Governance) describes party competition at the state level. The Political Documents Archive (cited under Multilevel Governance) database includes federal-level and state-level party manifestos and coalition agreements, while the Local Manifesto Project (cited under Multilevel Governance) explores the stances of political parties in Germany’s largest cities. The first part of this section references sources about party membership and competition in Germany and the second section provides treatments of the largest political parties in the Federal Republic.

General Treatments

Germany features multidimensional party competition, that is, parties compete not only on a left-right axis over economic issues but also on a “materialist”/“post-materialist” axis over social issues. Kitschelt 1989 describes the emergence of this multidimensional competition. Otjes 2016 describes the economic dimension today, and Xydias 2013 treats the contemporary social axis in terms of attitudes toward gender. König 2017 demonstrates how parties develop issue positions as new issues emerge. Nonnenmacher and Spier 2019 discusses what it means to be a party member in Germany and who is likely to join a party. Finally, Koβ 2010 explains Germany’s generous system of state funding for political parties.

  • Kitschelt, Herbert P. The Logics of Party Formation: Ecological Politics in Belgium and West Germany. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989.

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    This seminal work explains the rise of the Green Party and the transformation of party competition in Germany from one focused solely on economic issues to a multidimensional system of competition over social issues as well.

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  • König, Pascal D. “Intra-party Dissent as a Constraint in Policy Competition: Mapping and Analysing the Positioning of Political Parties in the German Refugee Debate from August to November 2015.” German Politics 26.3 (2017): 337–359.

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    Follows parties’ positions on the refugee crisis as it unfolded, documenting increasing polarization.

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  • Koβ, Michael. The Politics of Party Funding: State Funding to Political Parties and Party Competition in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

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    Examines the state funding of political parties in western European countries, including Germany, where state funding for parties is extensive.

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  • Nonnenmacher, Alexandra, and Tim Spier. “Introduction: German Party Membership in the 21st Century.” In Special Issue: German Party Membership in the 21st Century.” German Politics 28.2 (2019): 150–161.

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    This article introduces a special issue of the journal German Politics focusing on the meaning of political party membership in the 21st century. The issue examines why people join German parties, how members differ from the underlying population, what attitudes they hold, and what functions they perform.

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  • Otjes, Simon. “What’s Right about the Left-Right Dimension? The Causes and the Consequences of Ideological Inconsistency on Economic Issues in Germany.” German Politics 25.4 (2016): 581–603.

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    Argues German voters have ideologically inconsistent positions on economic issues. Otjes affirms that this inconsistency reduces both satisfaction with democracy and voter turnout.

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  • Xydias, Christina. “Mapping the Language of Women’s Interests: Sex and Party Affiliation in the Bundestag.” Political Studies 61.2 (2013): 319–340.

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    Xydias demonstrates how the major political parties speak about women’s interests in the Bundestag and in their party manifestos.

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The Alternative for Germany (AfD)

The right-wing, populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the most recent political party to enter the German Bundestag. See also treatments of the 2017 election under Specific National Elections. Rensmann 2018 traces the party’s origins and rise, Siri 2018 its entrance into the Bundestag, and Lees 2018 its impact on Euroskepticism in the European Union. The Alternative for Germany official website is also provided.

The Christian Democratic Union / Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU)

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) contests elections in fifteen of Germany’s sixteen states while the Christian Social Union (CSU) is present only in Bavaria. Green and Turner 2014 provides an excellent overview of the CDU’s evolution over time. Wiliarty 2010 provides insight into the party’s inner workings, and Wiliarty 2018 evaluates the party’s performance in the 2017 national elections. See also treatments of Specific National Elections for the CDU/CSU’s electoral performance over time. Falkenhagen 2013 discusses the CSU’s oft-overlooked distinctiveness from the CDU. The Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union official websites are cited.

  • Christian Democratic Union.

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    This is the CDU’s German-language official website.

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  • Christian Social Union.

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    This is the CSU’s German-language official website.

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  • Falkenhagen, Frédéric. “The CSU as an Ethno-regional Party.” German Politics 22.4 (2013): 396–420.

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    Examines the CSU’s distinct nature as a regional party with separate policies and voters from the CDU.

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  • Green, Simon, and Ed Turner, eds. Understanding the Transformation of Germany’s CDU. London: Routledge, 2014.

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    This edited volume contains chapters written by leading scholars of Christian democracy focusing on the party’s evolution over time.

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  • Wiliarty, Sarah E. The CDU and the Politics of Gender in Germany: Bringing Women to the Party. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

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    Wiliarty makes the case that the CDU is a “corporatist catch-all” party, containing a number of inner-party groups for various interests, including women, workers, Protestants, youth, and others; some of these groups come together in “dominant coalitions” to set the party’s policy directions. The book shows how the party’s women’s auxiliary organization was able to join such coalitions and push this conservative party forward on issues related to gender, such as work/family balance, abortion, and women’s political representation.

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  • Wiliarty, Sarah E. “The State of the CDU.” German Politics 27.1 (2018): 113–118.

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    Summarizes the state of the German Christian Democrats in the wake of the 2017 election.

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Free Democratic Party (FDP)

The Free Democrats are Germany’s liberal (libertarian) party. In addition to the party’s official website (Free Democratic Party), this section contains an analysis of the 2013–2017 period when the party was not represented in the Bundestag (Franzmann 2019). Zur 2017 seeks to explain this electoral defeat, and Patton 2018 covers the party’s return to the national legislature in the 2017 national election. See also treatments of Specific National Elections for the FDP’s electoral performance over time.

  • Franzmann, Simon T. “Extra-Parliamentary Opposition within a Transforming Political Space: The AfD and FDP under Merkel III between 2013 and 2017.” In Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change. German Politics 28.3 (2019): 332–349.

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    Explores the positions taken by the FDP while serving as a member of the extra-parliamentary opposition between 2013 and 2017.

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  • Free Democratic Party.

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    This is the FDP’s German-language official website.

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  • Patton, David P. “The Free Democrats’ Second Chance.” German Politics 27.1 (2018): 136–140.

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    Examines the state of the FPD as its members reentered the Bundestag following the 2017 election.

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  • Zur, Roi. “When Valence Crushes: Explaining the Electoral Failure of the German FDP in the 2013 Election.” German Politics 26.3 (2017): 380–397.

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    Argues that while the FDP adopted popular, centrist policy positions in the 2013 elections, voters did not perceive this, resulting in the party performing far worse than its policy positions would predict.

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Free Voters (Freie Wähler)

In addition to the political parties mentioned here, some German elections feature nonpartisan electoral lists. The largest of these groups is the Free Voters. Göhlert, et al. 2008 seeks to explain the popularity of nonpartisan lists but Welsh 2012 sounds a cautionary note about the ability of the Free Voters to succeed beyond the local level. The Free Voters official website is cited.

  • Free Voters.

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    This is the German-language official national website of the Free Voters.

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  • Göhlert, Stefan, Everard Holtmann, Adrienne Krappidel, and Marion Reiser. “Independent Local Lists in East and West Germany.” In Farewell to the Party Model? Independent Local Lists in East and West European Countries. Edited by Marion Reiser and Everhard Holtmann, 127–148. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008.

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    This chapter in an edited volume about independent local lists in Europe argues that the growing public skepticism of political parties is increasing the popularity of nonpartisan lists in local elections. This chapter traces the situation in both halves of Germany.

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  • Welsh, Helga. “Party Formation and Dilemmas of Opportunity Structure: Freie Wähler in the German Political System.” German Politics and Society 30.4 (2012): 1–22.

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    This article discusses the dilemmas faced by the Freie Wähler (Free Voters) party in Germany. This party has had great success at the local level as a centrist political party and has broken through to enter state, but not federal, legislatures. Welsh discusses the difficulty this organization has had in moving beyond the local level.

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Greens (Bündnis 90 / die Grünen)

The Greens (die Grünen) emerged on the West German political scene in the 1970s; at unification they were joined by the eastern German Alliance 90 (Bündnis 90). The Bündnis 90 / die Grünen official website is cited. See also treatments of Specific National Elections for the Greens’ electoral performance over time. Frankland, et al. 2008 provides a good overview of the evolution of Green parties across Europe since the 1970s. Milder and Jarausch 2015 focuses more narrowly on the situation in Germany. Lees 2018 examines the Greens’ performance in the 2017 national election.

  • Bündnis 90 / die Grünen.

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    This is the official, German-language website of Bündnis 90/ die Grünen (Alliance 90/ the Greens).

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  • Frankland, E. Gene, Paul Lucardie, and Benoît Rihoux, eds. Green Parties in Transition: The End of Grass-Roots Democracy? Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2008.

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    This edited volume contains a chapter on the German Green party, tracing its origins as a grassroots party and its metamorphosis into a professional party organization.

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  • Lees, Charles. “The German Greens and the 2017 Federal Election: Between Strategic Calculation and Real-World Politics.” German Politics 27.1 (2018): 124–130.

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    Examines the experience of the Greens in the 2017 national election.

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  • Milder, Stephen, and Konrad H. Jarausch, eds. Special Issue: Green Politics in Germany. German Politics and Society 33.4 (2015).

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    This special issue of German Politics and Society contains a number of articles tracing the Green party from its emergence in the 1970s to its current status as a four-decade veteran in the Bundestag.

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Left Party (die Linke)

Following the unification of West and East Germany, the former governing party of the German Democratic Republic became the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and began to contest elections in united Germany. In 2007 they joined with a western German group and became the Left Party (die Linke). The official English-language website die Linke is cited here; see also treatments of Specific National Elections for the party’s electoral performance over time. Hough, et al. 2007 and Patton 2011 trace the party’s early evolution. Olsen 2018 discusses its performance in the 2017 national election, and Hough and Keith 2019 depicts its populism.

  • Die Linke.

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    This is the official English-language website of the Left Party.

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  • Hough, Dan T., and Daniel Keith. “The German Left Party: A Case of Pragmatic Populism.” In The Populist Radical Left in Europe. Edited by Giorgos Katsambekis and Alexandros Kioupkiolis, 129–144. London: Routledge, 2019.

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    Portrays today’s Left Party as a populist left party.

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  • Hough, Dan T., Michael Koβ, and Jonathan Olsen. The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

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    This book traces the emergence of today’s Left Party from its roots in the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) formed after unification from the previous East German governing party, the Socialist Unity Party. The authors also compare the emergence of this party to the emergence of the Greens in an earlier era.

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  • Olsen, Jonathan. “The Left Party in the 2017 German Federal Election.” German Politics 27.1 (2018): 131–135.

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    Summarizes the state of the Left Party in the wake of the 2017 elections.

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  • Patton, David F. In Out of the East: From PDS to Left Party in Unified Germany. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011.

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    Discusses how the party was able to make the transition from leading an authoritarian political system to competing successfully in democratic elections.

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Social Democratic Party (SPD)

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is Germany’s oldest political party, formed in the 19th century to support the working class. Kitschelt 1994 discusses the challenges that the rise of deindustrialization and the middle class have posed for this party. Social Democratic Party is the official German-language website of the party; see also treatments cited under Specific National Elections for the party’s electoral performance over time. Turner 2018 reviews the Social Democrats’ disastrous performance in the 2017 national elections; Hansen and Olsen 2020 attributes this outcome, in part, to poor choices of the lead candidates.

  • Hansen, Michael A., and Jonathan Olsen. “Rhapsody in Beige: The Impact of SPD Candidate Evaluations on Vote Choice in the 2009, 2013, and 2017 Federal Elections.” German Politics 29.2 (2020): 223–243.

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    Argues that the Social Democratic Party’s choice of candidates for chancellor in the three most recent German elections undermined already weak electoral support for the party.

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  • Kitschelt, Herbert P. The Transformation of European Social Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

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    Traces the challenges faced by social democratic parties in the 1970s and 1980s, arguing that responses of parties like the SPD to these challenges were shaped by internal party organization.

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  • Social Democratic Party.

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    This is the official German-language website of the Social Democratic Party.

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  • Turner, Ed. “The SPD and the Bundestagswahl 2017: Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt?” German Politics 27.1 (2018): 119–123.

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    Summarizes the state of the SPD in the wake of its poor 2017 election results.

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Elections and Voting Behavior

Germany is known worldwide for the post–World War II creation of a personalized proportional (or mixed) electoral system. This section features literature describing these electoral rules, Germans’ voting behavior, and the results of specific national elections.

Germany’s Electoral System

Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (both cited under Textbooks) provide excellent explanations of the German electoral system. In addition to discussing the use by some political parties of gender quotas for electoral lists, Davidson-Schmich 2016 also depicts the ways in which candidates are recruited, selected, and elected in Germany at various levels of government. Jungherr 2015 focuses on political campaigning; see also Koβ 2010 (cited under Political Parties: General Treatments) for a discussion of financing these campaigns. Schiller 2012 looks at the use of direct democracy in the Federal Republic.

  • Davidson-Schmich, Louise K. Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation: Recruiting Candidates for Elective Office in Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016.

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    Provides a general overview on candidate recruitment in Germany with a special focus on women’s chances of being recruited for and elected to public office.

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  • Jungherr, Andreas. “The Role of the Internet in Political Campaigns in Germany.” In Special Issue: E-Campaigning in Germany: A Net Revolution? German Politics 24.4 (2015): 427–434.

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    This article introduces a special issue of German Politics examining the ways in which digitization has transformed German political campaigns. Articles examine the roles played by Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and other electronic media in shaping voters’ knowledge and behavior.

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  • Schiller, Theo. “Initiative Instruments in Germany: Variations in Regional States.” In Citizens’ Initiatives in Europe: Procedures and Consequences of Agenda Setting by Citizens. Edited by Maija Setälä and Theo Schiller, 89–112. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

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    Germany does not allow referenda at the national level, but citizen initiatives are possible at the state and local levels. This chapter describes variation across German states in both the rules governing plebiscites and their use in practice.

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Voting Behavior

Since 2009, German electoral behavior in national elections has been systematically studied via the German Longitudinal Election Study, which has resulted in a number of publications described on the website. Mannewitz 2017 focuses on the differences between the eastern and western German electorates, and Rossteutscher, et al. 2015 compares voting behavior across the multiple levels of German government. Rohrschneider and Schmitt-Beck 2017 compares voting behavior in the 2013 national election. Rheault, et al. 2018 studies use by Germans of the two votes granted them by the personalized proportional electoral system.

  • German Longitudinal Election Study.

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    Provides links to multiple studies of German voter behavior in the 2009, 2013, and 2017 national elections.

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  • Mannewitz, Tom. “Really ‘Two Deeply Divided Electorates’? German Federal Elections, 1990–2013.” German Politics 26.2 (2017): 219–234.

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    Compares eastern and western German voting behavior in national elections since unification and demonstrates that the two diverge primarily in terms of voter turnout (lower in eastern Germany) and voting for left wing parties (more common in eastern Germany).

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  • Rheault, Ludovic, Andre Blais, John H. Aldrich, and Thomas Gschwend. “Understanding People’s Choice When They Have Two Votes.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (2018).

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    Explains German voters’ decision making when confronted with the option of casting two votes.

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  • Rohrschneider, Robert, and Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck. “Introduction: Parties and Voters at the 2013 German Federal Election.” In Special Issue: Parties and Voters at the 2013 German Federal Election. German Politics 26.1 (2017): 1–11.

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    This article introduces a special issue of German Politics devoted to voting behavior in the 2013 election.

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  • Rossteutscher, Sigrid, Thorsten Fass, and Kai Arzheimer. “Voters and Voting in Multilevel Systems—An Introduction.” In Special Issue: Voters and Voting in Multilevel Systems. German Politics 24.1 (2015): 1–7.

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    This article introduces a special issue of German Politics examining voting behavior at multiple levels of German government: local, state, federal, and European.

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Specific National Elections

Scholars studying German politics routinely produce edited books in the wake of national elections summarizing the main campaign issues and events, voter behavior, and election results. Langenbacher 2010, Langenbacher 2015, and Langenbacher 2019 are the most recent volumes of Eric Langenbacher, an editor based at Georgetown University. Wessels, et al. 2013 and Schoen and Wessels 2016 are parts of a long-standing German-language “blue series” focusing on national elections. D’Ottavio and Saalfeld 2015 discusses the transformative results of the 2013 elections, and Saalfeld and Zohlnhöfer 2014 focuses on key issues in this contest.

  • D’Ottavio, Gabriele, and Thomas Saalfeld, eds. Germany after the 2013 Elections: Breaking the Mould of Post-unification Politics? Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2015.

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    This edited volume reviews key developments surrounding the 2013 German national election. It contains chapters written by leading European-based scholars of German politics.

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  • Langenbacher, Eric, ed. Between Right and Left: The 2009 Bundestag Elections and the Transformation of the German Party System. New York: Berghahn, 2010.

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    This edited volume reviews key developments surrounding the 2009 German national election.

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  • Langenbacher, Eric, ed. The Merkel Republic: An Appraisal. New York: Berghahn, 2015.

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    This edited volume, containing chapters written by an array of international experts on German politics, reviews key developments surrounding the 2013 German national election.

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  • Langenbacher, Eric, ed. The Twilight of the Merkel Era: Power and Politics in Germany after the 2017 Election. New York: Berghahn, 2019.

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    This edited volume reviews key developments surrounding the 2017 German national election.

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  • Saalfeld, Thomas, and Reimut Zohlnhöfer. “From ‘Dream Team’ to ‘Marriage of Convenience’? An Introduction.” In Special Issue: The Merkel Government and the German Election of 2013. German Politics 23.4 (2014): 237–250.

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    Introduces a special issue of German Politics on the 2013 election. This issue focuses on policy issues that were key in the election, including fiscal policy, the Eurocrisis, social and employment policy, health, gender, education, and foreign and energy policies.

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  • Schoen, Harald, and Bernhard Wessels. Wahlen und Wähler: Analysen aus Anlass der Bundestagswahl 2013. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Verlag, 2016.

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    This is part of a German-language series called the “blue series” of German-language edited volumes analyzing German national elections since 1980. This volume focuses on the 2013 election.

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  • Wessels, Bernhard, Harald Schoen, and Oscar W. Gabriel, eds. Wahlen und Wähler: Analysen aus Anlass der Bundestagswahl 2009. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer, 2013.

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    This is part of a German-language series called the “blue series” of German-language edited volumes analyzing German elections since 1980. This volume focuses on the 2009 election.

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Political Elites

The literature on German politics features a robust tradition of Abgeordneten Soziologie, or the study of the individuals elected to parliament. Gabriel, et al. 2018 and Kintz and Cordes 2019 focus on elites in general, and Wüst 2016 deals with ethnic minority representatives. Donovan 2012 and Kintz 2012 take intersectional approaches studying gender and migrant status and eastern German origin, respectively. Following unification, many such studies focused on the eastern German politicians socialized under communism and elected to newly formed democratic parliaments. Rohrschneider 1999 concentrates on these elites’ attitudes, Davidson-Schmich 2006 on their ties to political parties, and Yoder 1999 on their own interpretations of their new roles.

  • Davidson-Schmich, Louise K. Becoming Party Politicians: Eastern German State Legislators in the Decade Following Unification. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.

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    Traces the increasing party discipline of easterners elected to state legislatures following unification.

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  • Donovan, Barbara. “Intersectionality and the Substantive Representation of Migrant Interests in Germany.” German Politics and Society 3.40 (2012): 23–44.

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    One of the few studies that investigates not only the descriptive representation of migrants in German politics, asking whether migrant-origin Germans are physically present in legislatures, but also the substantive representation of migrant interests, studying whether and how migrant-origin politicians speak about the needs of other immigrants.

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  • Gabriel, Oscar, Eric Kerrouche, and Susanne S. Schüttemeyer, eds. Political Representation in France and Germany: Attitudes and Activities of Citizens and MPs. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

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    Based on a comparative research project that gathered data from observations, surveys, experiments, and expert interviews, this book examines the process and the quality of political representation in Germany (and France) from a dual perspective. First, it analyzes the behavior of Members of Parliament (MP) during their district activities. Second, it investigates the perceptions and evaluations of the represented citizens. Different facets of MPs’ activities as well as citizens’ attitudes are comparatively investigated.

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  • Kintz, Melanie. “Doppelquoten—ein Vorteil für ostdeutsche Parlamentarierinnen?” Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen 43 (2012): 738–753.

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    Investigates the impact of both East German origin and sex on representation in the Bundestag.

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  • Kintz, Melanie, and Malte Cordes. “Daten zur Berufsstruktur des Deutschen Bundestages in der 19. Wahlperiode.” Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen 50.1 (2019): 42–58.

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    Provides information about the personal and professional background of members of the German Bundestag.

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  • Rohrschneider, Robert. Learning Democracy: Democratic and Economic Values in Unified Germany. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

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    Rohrschneider studied eastern and western Berlin political elites shortly after unification and compared their attitudes toward democracy (in theory) and political tolerance (supporting democracy in practice). While all expressed support for democracy in theory, only those socialized in a democracy had high levels of political tolerance. The book also compares attitudes toward economic equality and direct democracy.

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  • Wüst, Andreas M. “Incorporation beyond Cleavages? Parties, Candidate and Germany’s Immigrant-Origin Electorate.” In Special Issue: The Changing Politics and Policies of Migration in Germany. German Politics 25.3 (2016): 414–432.

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    Studies immigrant political participation and engagement with political parties.

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  • Yoder, Jennifer A. From East Germans to Germans? The New Postcommunist Elites. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999.

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    Unification quickly extended the western German political system eastward, without much input from the newly elected eastern Germans, who occupied positions of leadership in Germany’s five new states. This rich ethnographic work examines the experiences of eastern elites with the new system, demonstrating both the ways in which elites adapted to western norms and the differences that remained between these elites and the eastern citizens they were trying to represent.

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Society

In a democracy, the government is to follow the preferences of citizens. This section of the bibliography investigates the overall political culture of the country to paint a picture of popular attitudes toward democracy and political participation. It also highlights literature about Germany’s rapidly changing demographics in terms of immigration and includes articles about the Federal Republic’s vibrant array of social movements.

Political Culture

Since the failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism, scholars of German politics have consistently studied popular support for democracy and democratic participation in the country. Campbell and Conradt 2015 reviews this literature and summarize the situation fifty years after World War II ended. Campbell 2019 finds continued popular support for German democracy mixed with skepticism of some aspects of the European Union. Langenbacher, et al. 2015 discusses how Germans are dealing with their undemocratic past. See also Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 (cited under Textbooks) for a discussion of German political culture.

  • Campbell, Ross. Popular Support for Democracy in Unified Germany: Critical Democrats. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

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    This book examines attitudes toward democracy in Germany prior to and following unification. The author draws on survey evidence to depict Germans’ views of how democracy functions overall, their attitudes toward the Basic Law, their trust in political institutions, and their views of the European Union (EU). Campbell does not find that a crisis of democracy exists in Germany, but he warns that citizen support is particularly low toward aspects of the EU.

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  • Campbell, Ross, and David P. Conradt. “The Civic Culture at 50: Change, Continuity and Challenges in the Federal Republic of Germany.” In Special Issue: The Civic Culture at 50. German Politics 24.3 (2015): 217–233.

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    This article introduces a special issue of German Politics devoted to studying citizens’ attitudes toward democracy. It includes articles about attitudes toward the political system, the welfare state, political parties, and protest and compares eastern and western Germans.

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  • Langenbacher, Eric, Bill Nevin, and Ruth Wittlinger, eds. Dynamics of Memory and Identity in Contemporary Europe. New York: Berghahn, 2015.

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    This edited volume compares the way in which eastern and western Europe commemorates and memorializes the past, especially the Holocaust. The editors are all experts on Germany and many chapters focus on the Federal Republic.

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Immigration

German society has become increasingly more heterogeneous since the founding of the Federal Republic in 1949. Mushaben 2008 traces both immigration to Germany and German immigration policy over time, focusing on the impact of these policies on migrants’ integration into German society. Green 2013 concentrates on changes since 1998. Hess 2016 documents the migration of ethnic Germans to the Federal Republic after the fall of the Soviet Union. Bock and Macdonald 2019 takes an anthropological approach to studying the experiences of not only immigrants but also the native Germans supporting and opposing immigration. See also Hess and Green 2016 (cited under Public Policies).

  • Bock, Jan-Jonathan, and Sharon Macdonald, eds. Refugees Welcome? Difference and Diversity in a Changing Germany. New York: Berghahn, 2019.

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    This edited volume, written by anthropologists, examines the political and social responses to the ever-increasing diversity of Germany’s population.

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  • Green, Simon. “Germany: A Changing Country of Immigration.” German Politics 22.3 (2013): 333–351.

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    Looks beyond political rhetoric debating whether Germany is or is not, or should or should not, be a country of immigration and documents the rising diversity within the country.

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  • Hess, Christin. “Post-Perestroika Ethnic Migration from the Former Soviet Union: Challenges Twenty Years On.” In Special Issue: The Changing Politics and Policies of Migration in Germany. German Politics 25.3 (2016): 381–397.

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    Examines the experiences of one of the largest recent immigrant groups to Germany.

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  • Mushaben, Joyce Marie. The Changing Faces of Citizenship: Integration and Mobilization among Ethnic Minorities in Germany. New York: Berghahn, 2008.

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    Traces Germany’s immigration policy since the 1950s and provides insights on to its “human face” and impact on the integration of migrants.

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Social Movements

Germany’s robust civic culture features a range of voluntary associations and social movements making demands on the state. One of the most vibrant social movements in Germany is the environmental movement. Olsen 1999 depicts the movement’s connection to the political right, and Augustine 2018 focuses on anti-nuclear efforts; see also references in the section Greens (Bündnis 90 / die Grünen). Ferree 2012 describes the German feminist movement over time; Lang and Knappe 2014 discusses this movement’s impact on policy. Patton 2017 looks at various waves of protest in eastern Germany. Simpson and Druxes 2016 and Vorländer, et al. 2018 examine the anti-immigrant Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident) movement. The former focuses on rhetorical strategies employed by this right-wing movement and the latter examines the motivations of the participants themselves. Arkilic 2016 explores Turkish immigrant movements. Davidson-Schmich 2017 examines a range of other movements, including, for example, the disability rights movement. See also Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 (cited under Textbooks) for a discussion of youth movements in Germany.

  • Arkilic, Ayca. “Between the Homeland and Host States: Turkey’s Diaspora Policies and Immigrant Political Participation in France and Germany.” PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2016.

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    Examines the political participation of Turkish immigrants to Germany, both in Germany and in Turkish politics.

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  • Augustine, Dolores L. Taking on Technocracy: Nuclear Power in Germany, 1945 to the Present. New York: Berghahn, 2018.

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    Covers both East and West Germany’s fraught relationships with nuclear power over time, tracing social movements and public policy regarding nuclear energy.

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  • Davidson-Schmich, Louise K., ed. Gender, Intersections, and Institutions: Intersectional Groups Building Alliances and Gaining Voice in Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017.

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    This edited volume traces the responsiveness of the German political system to minority women, including migrants, East German women, lesbians, disabled women, working-class women, women in the military, and intersex people.

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  • Ferree, Myra Marx. Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012.

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    Traces German feminist demands and organizing over the course of German history and compares this movement to feminism in the United States.

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  • Lang, Sabine, and Henrike Knappe. “Between Whisper and Voice: Online Women’s Movement Outreach in the UK and Germany.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 21.4 (2014): 361–381.

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    Examines the influence of the women’s movement on policymaking in Germany.

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  • Olsen, Jonathan. Nature and Nationalism: Right-Wing Ecology and the Politics of Identity in Contemporary Germany. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1999.

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    Pro-environmental values are often associated with the political left, but Olsen shows in this prescient book how the German far right has drawn on environmental themes to justify anti-immigrant and nationalist policies throughout history.

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  • Patton, David F. “Monday, Monday: Eastern German Protest Movements and German Party Politics since 1989.” In Special Issue: German Unification as a Catalyst for Change: Linking Political Transformation at the Domestic and International Levels. German Politics 26.4 (2017): 480–497.

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    Describes four waves of protest in eastern Germany and the effects of these protests on party politics; topics include the 1989 protests against the communist regime, 2004 anti-welfare state reform (Hartz IV) protests, and two waves of right-wing protest in the 2000s.

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  • Simpson, Patricia Anne, and Helga Druxes. “Pegida as a European Far-Right Populist Movement.” In Special Issue: Plurals of Pegida: New Right Populism and the Rhetoric of the Refugee Crisis. Edited by Patricia Anne Simpson and Helga Druxes. German Politics and Society 34.4 (2016): 1–16.

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    In this special issue of the journal German Politics and Society the authors, professors of German, delve into the various rhetorical strategies employed by this new right populist movement. Articles focus both on Germany and on Austria.

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  • Vorländer, Hans, Maik Herold, and Steven Schäller. PEGIDA and New Right-Wing Populism in Germany. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

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    Examines the Pegida movement’s historical development in its European context, its organizational structure, and its programmatic orientation. The book also discusses who joins this movement and why.

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Interest Groups

Interest groups, especially economic ones, play an important role in German policymaking. Eising and Spohr 2017 demonstrates this point, while Klüver 2015 shows that interest groups do represent citizen concerns. Lang 2013 looks at the interest representation provided by nongovernmental organizations. Yurdakul 2009 discusses Turkish interest groups and the importance of these groups for integrating immigrants into German politics.

  • Eising, Rainer, and Florian Spohr. “The More, the Merrier? Interest Groups and Legislative Change in the Public Hearing of the German Parliamentary Committees.” German Politics 26.2 (2017): 314–333.

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    Documents the important role played by interest groups, especially business interest groups, in drafting legislation in Germany.

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  • Klüver, Heike. “Interest Groups in the German Bundestag: Exploring the Issue Linkage between Citizens and Interest Groups.” German Politics 24.2 (2015): 137–153.

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    Demonstrates that citizens’ concern about issues eventually translates into interest group pressure on the German Bundestag. Establishes the important role played by interest groups in Germany’s policymaking process.

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  • Lang, Sabine. NGOs, Civil Society and the Public Sphere. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

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    The author uses case studies from Germany, the European Union, and the United States to depict the ability of nongovernmental organizations to represent citizen preferences.

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  • Yurdakul, Gökçe. From Guest Workers into Muslims: The Transformation of Turkish Immigrant Associations in Germany. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars, 2009.

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    Examines five Turkish immigrant associations to demonstrate the breadth of advocacy claims made by the largest group of migrants to Germany.

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Public Policies

Like all modern governments, the government of the Federal Republic is called upon to produce policies to respond to a range of contemporary issues. Bandelow, et al. 2019 discusses health policy; Davidson-Schmich 2017 covers policies toward sexual minorities; Givens and Case 2014 depicts racial anti-discrimination policy; Henninger and von Wahl 2019 portrays gender equality policies; Hess and Green 2016 focuses on migration policy; Hough 2017 considers efforts to combat corruption; Korteweg and Yurdakul 2014 discusses policies toward Muslim women wearing headscarves; Kurzer and Cooper 2016 examines policies to reduce tobacco usage; Laubenthal 2019 depicts Germany’s policies during the recent refugee crisis; Moore and Gustafson 2018 looks at energy policy, and Zippel 2006 portrays policymaking regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. See also Saalfeld and Zohlnhöher under Specific National Elections for policy issues debated in the 2013 election.

  • Bandelow, Nils C., Anja Hartmann, and Johanna Hornung. “Winter Is Coming—But Not Yet: German Health Policy under the Third Merkel Chancellorship.” In Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change. German Politics 28.3 (2019): 444–461.

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    Explores health-care policy under the Merkel government.

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  • Davidson-Schmich, Louise K. “LGBT Politics in Germany: Unification as a Catalyst for Change.” In Special Issue: German Unification as a Catalyst for Change: Linking Political Transformation at the Domestic and International Levels. German Politics 26.4 (2017): 534–555.

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    An overview of German public policies toward sexual minorities throughout German history.

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  • Givens, Teri E. and Rhonda Evans Case. Legislating Equality: The Politics of Antidiscrimination Policy in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

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    Examines the development of racial antidiscrimination policy in the European Union and its transposition in countries including Germany.

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  • Henninger, Annette, and Angelika von Wahl. “This Train Has Left the Station: The German Gender Equality Regime on Course towards a Social Democratic Model (2013–17).” Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change German Politics 28.3 (2019): 462–481.

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    German gender policy has changed considerably during Angela Merkel’s term as chancellor and this article outlines the significant alterations made to policies such as paid parental leave and anti-discrimination employment regulations.

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  • Hess, Christian, and Simon Green. “Introduction: The Changing Politics and Policies of Migration in Germany.” In Special Issue: The Changing Politics and Policies of Migration in Germany. German Politics 25.3 (2016): 315–328.

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    This article introduces a special issue of German Politics that traces Germany’s migration policies over time, focusing on three critical junctures: labor migration following World War II, unification, and the 1998 election of Germany’s first Red-Green government.

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  • Hough, Dan. “Anticorruption.” German Politics and Society 35.1 (2017): 63–82.

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    This article explores Germany’s attempts to comply with international agreements mandating transparency and policies to stop corruption in the business world. Hough argues that Germany has a strong internal anticorruption infrastructure, but one that is difficult to reform in the face of external demands for changes that are at odds with existing policies.

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  • Korteweg, Anna C., and Göcke Yurdakul. The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014.

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    Examines policy making toward Muslim women wearing headscarves in Germany as well as in France, the Netherlands, and Turkey.

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  • Kurzer, Paulette, and Alice Cooper. “The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Explaining Change in Germany’s Tobacco Control Policy at Home and in the EU.” German Politics 25.4 (2016): 541–560.

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    Attributes the (limited) progress made toward tobacco control in Germany to indirect influences from the European Union’s anti-smoking efforts.

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  • Lang, Sabine. “Gender Governance in Post-unification Germany: Between Institutionalization, Deregulation, and Privatisation.” In Changing State Feminism. Edited by Johanna Kantola and Joyce Outshoorn, 171–198. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

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    Depicts Germany’s version of state feminism.

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  • Laubenthal, Barbara. “Refugees Welcome? Reforms of German Asylum Policies between 2013 and 2017 and Germany’s Transformation into an Immigration Country.” In Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change. German Politics 28.3 (2019): 412–425.

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    Traces the evolution of German asylum policy during the refugee crisis.

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  • Moore, Josephine, and Thane Gustafson. “Where to Now? Germany Rethinks Its Energy Transition.” German Politics and Society 36.3 (2018): 1–22.

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    The authors track Germany’s attempts to reduce its dependence on carbon-based fuels and move toward clean energy. They note not only the country’s achievements in moving toward this goal but also some of Germany’s shortcomings.

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  • Zippel, Kathrin S. The Politics of Sexual Harassment: A Comparative Study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

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    Examines how Germany developed policies to deal with sexual harassment.

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Economic Policy

Germans are rightly proud of their “social market economy” that led to widespread economic prosperity in the years after World War II. Lemke and Welsh 2018 (cited under Textbooks) provides a detailed description of the “German model” of political economy, its performance, and its evolution over time. Esping-Andersen 1990 describes the historical development of Germany’s “conservative” welfare state. Thelen 2004 portrays Germany’s distinctive system of vocational training. Streek 2009 describes Germany’s coordinated market economy, situating the country in the “varieties of capitalism” literature. Hein and Kneip 2020 reviews the critical role played by faith-based welfare providers in Germany. Globalization and unification have challenged this model in recent decades. Leaman 2009 describes how the German model began to change under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Silvia 2011 discusses how Germany responded to the financial crisis of 2008. Schulze-Cleven 2017 portrays changes to labor relations over time. Vail 2018 summarizes this process of liberalization in Germany, and Rixen 2019 describes Germany’s current fiscal policy.

  • Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.

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    Depicts the structure and origins of Germany’s welfare state.

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  • Hein, Josef, and Sascha Kneip. “The Rise of Faith-Based Welfare Providers in Germany and Its Consequences.” German Politics 29.2 (2020): 244–261.

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    Examines the extensive welfare service provision by the church-based Caritas and Diakonie and the ways in which these organizations are able to circumvent traditional employment protections for their many employees. Increasingly, those who work for these faith-based organizations are not members of the faith.

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  • Leaman, Jeremy. The Political Economy of Germany under Chancellors Kohl and Schröder: Decline of the German Model? New York: Berghahn, 2009.

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    Provides an overview of neo-liberal reforms to the German economy made in the 1980s and 1990s.

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  • Rixen, Thomas. “Administering the Surplus: The Grand Coalition’s Fiscal Policy, 2013–17.” In Special Issue: Germany under Merkel III: Continuity and Change. German Politics 29.3 (2019): 392–411.

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    Depicts German fiscal policy and its tendency to simply administer balanced budgets rather than make strategic investments.

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  • Schulze-Cleven, Tobias. “German Labor Relations in International Perspective: A Model Reconsidered.” German Politics and Society 35.4 (2017): 46–76.

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    This article examines how German labor relations have changed over the course of the21st century.

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  • Silvia, Stephen J. “Why Do German and U.S. Reactions to the Financial Crisis Differ?” German Politics and Society 29 (2011): 68–77.

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    Silvia argues the differences between the responses of the United States and Germany to the financial crisis of 2008–2009 and the subsequent Eurocrisis stem from the two countries having learned different lessons from the economic difficulties of the 1920s and 1930s.

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  • Streek, Wolfgang. Re-forming Capitalism: Institutional Change in the German Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

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    Assesses Germany’s status in the “varieties of capitalism” literature, where it is often referred to as a “coordinated market economy.”

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  • Thelen, Kathleen. How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, the United States, and Japan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

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    Examines the history and evolution of Germany’s unique vocational training system.

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  • Vail, Mark I. Liberalism in Illiberal States: Ideas and Economic Adjustment in Contemporary Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

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    This book contains a chapter focusing on Germany’s specific interpretation of economic liberalism.

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Foreign Policy

Germany’s foreign policy, like most of the rest of German politics, is conducted in the long shadow of the Nazi era. Many Germans are reluctant to engage abroad militarily and argue Germany has a special role to play in ensuring human rights. The country’s strategic location in the center of Europe, its alliances with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and its export-driven economy all pressure it to engage militarily, however. This section of the bibliography covers the German foreign and security policymaking process in general as well as the country’s relationships with the European Union, the United States, and its eastern neighbors. Both Lemke and Welsh 2018 and Langenbacher and Conradt 2017 (both cited under Textbooks) summarize Germany’s foreign and security policy as well.

General Treatments

Dyson 2013 describes the process of defense policymaking in Germany; Crossley-Frolick 2016 explains when Germany may be willing to use force. Wolff 2013 examines Germany’s mixed effort to be a “civilian power,” promoting democracy abroad rather than engaging militarily; Bendix 2018 highlights the Federal Republic’s policies on development aid. Platte and Leuffen 2016 explains the extent of Germany’s arms sales abroad. Szabo 2017 traces the Federal Republic’s move from simply promoting its economic interests abroad to becoming a more geostrategic actor. Allers 2016 discusses how Germany’s ambiguous relationship to international security limits its ability to help manage international crises.

  • Allers, Robin Marc. “Are We Doing Enough? Change and Continuity in the German Approach to Crisis Management.” German Politics 25.4 (2016): 519–540.

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    Discusses Chancellors Schroeder and Merkel’s distinctive approach toward international crisis management, mixing military security and civilian assistance.

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  • Bendix, Daniel. Global Development and Colonial Power: German Development Policy at Home and Abroad. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2018.

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    Examines the historical legacies of German development policy, with a special emphasis on its relations with the Global South.

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  • Crossley-Frolick, Katy A. “Revisiting and Reimagining the Notion of Responsibility in German Foreign Policy.” International Studies Perspectives 18 (2016): 443–464.

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    Discusses the concept of the “politics of responsibility” as a leitmotif in German foreign policymaking, explaining when Germany might be willing to use force abroad.

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  • Dyson, Tom. “German Defence Politics: A View from Abroad.” In German Defence Politics. Edited by Ina Wiesner. Baden Baden, Germany: Nomos, 2013.

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    This chapter and other contributions to the edited volume explain how Germany’s defense policies are formulated.

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  • Platte, Hendrik, and Dirk Leuffen. “German Arms Exports: Between Normative Aspirations and Political Reality.” German Politics 25.4 (2016): 561–580.

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    Demonstrates that economic imperatives, rather than professed human rights concerns, drive German arms sales.

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  • Szabo, Stephen F. “Germany: From Civilian Power to a Geo-economic Shaping Power.” German Politics and Society 35.3 (2017): 38–54.

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    While Germany’s post-unification foreign policy initially was focused on promoting the country’s economic interests abroad, Szabo argues Germany has become more of a geopolitical actor, focusing on the strategic challenges that have emerged in recent years.

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  • Wolff, Jonas. “Democracy Promotion and Civilian Power: The Example of Germany’s ‘Value Oriented’ Foreign Policy.” German Politics 22.4 (2013): 477–493.

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    Looks at Germany’s fragmented efforts to promote democracy abroad, using Bolivia, Turkey, and Russia as examples.

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Relations with the United States

Since the end of World War II, Germany’s relationship with the United States has been critical in ensuring the Federal Republic’s national security. Germany has enjoyed the protection of the US nuclear umbrella and NATO guarantees of assistance in times of attack. The United States has also been a major market for German exports. Recent years have seen the fraying of these security and economic relationships. Brugger 2019 demonstrates these declining relations in terms of elite trust in the United States. Jacoby 2020 highlights economic tensions between the two countries. Larres and Wittlinger 2018 depicts a myriad of ways this “fragile friendship” is strained.

  • Brugger, Philipp. “The Erosion of German Elite Trust in the United States of America.” German Politics 28.4 (2019): 521–540.

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    The article discusses the importance of foreign policy trust and then demonstrates declining trust in the United States on the part of German center-right politicians. This growing distrust extends beyond individual presidents to the US state itself.

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  • Jacoby, Wade. “Surplus Germany.” In Special Issue: Imbalance: Germany’s Political Economy after the Social Democratic Century. German Politics 29.3 (2020): 498–521.

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    Examines the roots of US-German tensions over persistent German trade surpluses. The argument concludes with implications for the tense German-American economic relationship.

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  • Larres, Klaus, and Ruth Wittlinger. “A Fragile Friendship: German-American Relations in the Twenty-First Century.” In Special Issue: A Fragile Friendship: German-American Relations in the Twenty-First Century. German Politics 27.2 (2018): 152–157.

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    This piece introduces a special issue of German Politics devoted to analyzing the German-American relationship in terms of key issues of the past two decades, including the Iraq War, the financial and Euro crises, increasing numbers of terrorist attacks and refugees, strategies toward Russia, and the maintenance of the transatlantic alliance.

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Germany’s Role in the European Union (EU)

As the largest country in the European Union, both in terms of population and in terms of economy, Germany exerts considerable influence over the bloc, even if it does not necessarily want to play a leadership role. Hacke 1997 takes on this topic from a realist perspective. Rohrschneider and Whitefield 2017 highlights the differences of opinion on the EU within Germany. Bulmer and Paterson 2018 describes Germany as a reluctant hegemon in the EU. Crawford and Rezai 2017 notes the effect this reluctance has on the euro. Helwig and Siddi 2020 discusses Germany’s role in EU foreign policy more broadly.

  • Bulmer, Simon, and William E. Paterson. Germany and the European Union: Europe’s Reluctant Hegemon? New York: Macmillan, 2018.

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    Viewing German foreign policy behavior through the lens of domestic politics, the authors argue Germany is a “reluctant hegemon” in the European Union. The book features case studies of both the Eurozone and the Ukraine crises.

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  • Crawford, Ames Beverly, and Armon Rezai. “The Euro, the Gold Standard, and German Power: A Cautionary Tale.” German Politics and Society 35.4 (2017): 77–104.

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    The authors draw on hegemonic stability theory to argue that the Eurozone requires a hegemon willing to provide resources to stabilize the currency. They question whether Germany is willing to play the role of hegemon and, if not, whether the Euro can survive.

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  • Hacke, Christian. Die Aussenpolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Weltmacht Wider Willen? Berlin: Ullstein, 1997.

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    A realist, German-language summary of Germany’s foreign policy and place in the world.

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  • Helwig, Niklas, and Marco Siddi. “German Leadership in the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.” In Special Issue: Germany’s Leadership in the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy. German Politics 29.1 (2020): 1–7.

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    This article is the introduction to a special issue of German Politics focusing on Germany’s role in EU foreign policy in a number of areas, including policy toward Russia, the Ukraine, Libya, Turkey, and other areas.

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  • Rohrschneider, Robert, and Stephen Whitefield. “Party Positions about European Integration in Germany: An Electoral Quandary.” In Special Issue: Parties and Voters at the 2013 German Federal Election. German Politics 26.1 (2017): 83–103.

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    Examines the largely positive views of the EU of various political parties, despite increasing Euroskepticism among the electorate, paving the way for The Alternative for Germany political party.

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Germany’s Relations with Its Eastern Neighbors

Managing its relationship with the countries to its east, especially Russia, is key for German security. Daehnhardt and Handl 2018 and Yoder 2017 provide overviews of these relationships. Newnham 2017 shows the important role individual personalities play in shaping German-Russian relations, and Zuba 2020 examines the situation from the Polish perspective.

  • Daehnhardt, Patricia, and Vladimir Handl. “Germany’s Eastern Challenge and the Russia-Ukraine Crisis: A New Ostpolitik in the Making?” In Special Issue: Germany’s Eastern Challenge: A “Hybrid Ostpolitik” in the Making? German Politics 27.4 (2018): 445–459.

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    Daehnhardt and Handl introduce a special issue of the journal German Politics devoted to the study of recent German, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian relations. Germany’s role in European Union foreign policymaking is considered along with the view of the United States toward these relations.

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  • Newnham, Randall. “Germany and Russia since Reunification: Continuity, Change, and the Role of Leaders.” German Politics and Society 35.1 (2017): 42–62.

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    Newnham traces German-Russian relations over the course of the post-unification period. He argues that economic and political relations between the two countries ebb and flow due to the personal relations between the leaders of the states. Relations thrive when the two individuals get along and sour as interpersonal ties fray.

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  • Yoder, Jennifer A. “Dialogues, Trialogues, and Triangles: The Geometry of Germany’s Foreign Policy of Trust Building.” German Politics 26.2 (2017): 195–218.

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    Examines the “Petersburg Dialog” with Russia, the German-Russian-Polish “Trialog,” and the “Weimar Triangle” involving Germany, France, and Poland.

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  • Zuba, Krzysztof. “Between Strategic Cooperation and Distrustful Neighbourhood: Polish-German Relations in the Agendas of Polish Governments, 1990–2019.” German Politics 29.2 (2020): 262–281.

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    Analyzes changing German-Polish foreign relations in the period since German unification.

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German/Middle East Relations

Germany’s past makes relationships with the Middle East, especially Israel, a particularly sensitive topic. Steiniger 2018 provides a general overview of these relations. Wittlinger 2018 focuses specifically on relations with Israel and Wright 2019 deals with Iran.

  • Steiniger, Rolf. Germany and the Middle East: From Kaiser Wilhelm II to Angela Merkel. New York: Berghahn, 2018.

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    Traces Germany’s foreign policy toward the Middle East over time, focusing on relations with Israel and energy policy.

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  • Wittlinger, Ruth. “A ‘Model of Reconciliation’? Fifty Years of German-Israeli relations.” Cooperation and Conflict 53.4 (2018): 507–527.

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    This article argues that German-Israeli reconciliation after 1945 has not been as exemplary as is often suggested.

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  • Wright, Nicholas. The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy in Germany and the UK: Co-operation, Co-optation and Competition. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International, 2019.

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    This book examines Germany’s impact on long-term foreign policy cooperation through the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It also demonstrates how German foreign policy itself has changed in light of its EU involvement. The book includes a discussion of German-EU-Iranian relations and the establishment of the European External Action Service.

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