Multi-Level Electoral Competition:

Abstract

Symmetry has been a prominent feature of multilevel electoral competition in postwar Germany. However, regional parameters affecting the degree of symmetry have changed significantly over time. Looking at voting behaviour, coalition formation, party systems and party organizations, we distinguish three different phases: (a) an initial period (late 1940s to early 1960s) with a rather complex and uneven party system configuration; (b) the classical period (early 1960s to late 1980s) with a very high degree of symmetry; (c) the postunification period (since 1990) with a tendency towards a stronger regionalization of party competition. The article argues that these changes can be explained by the interaction of three different factors. First, a structural explanation focuses on the institutional framework of German `cooperative federalism', which was, at least until the 1990s, characterized by a constant trend towards more interdependence between the different political levels. Second, a socio-cultural explanation emphasizes the (varying) degree of homogeneity among the German electorate. Third, an actor-centred explanation points to the organizational capacities of political parties. German parties have developed a high degree of vertical integration and are (were) thus able to resolve disputes between the different levels of the political system or between different regions within their own ranks. In the 1990s, German parties found it more difficult to maintain their levels of vertical integration. Since reunification, territorial politics has therefore played a much greater role in multi-level electoral competition in Germany.

Unfulfilled Promises? German Social Democrats and their Policy Positions at the Federal and State Level between 1994 and 2006

“…Moreover, it is possible to evaluate if patterns of party competition in the German Länder differ significantly from the federal level (see e.g. Jeffery, 1999;Detterbeck & Renzsch, 2003). Until now, quantitative empirical studies have used the ideological positions of the federal parties to analyse patterns of legislative activity or coalition formation at the state level (Bräuninger & König, 1999: 216;Pappi et al ., 2005: 443).…”

Coalitions and Camps in the German Party System after the 2009 Bundestag Election

“…27 It is not uncommon for politicians on the Länder level to pursue a different coalition strategy than the one taken by their party at federal level and for various reasons. The examples of the failed attempt of the Hessian SPD to form an SPD-Green minority government tolerated by the Left Party or the recent coalition negotiations in Thuringia, where the Left Party top candidate's decision not to pursue the office of head of the state government caused as much aggravation in his own party as the decision taken by the Thuringia state committee of the SPD to form a grand coalition with the CDU rather than with the Left Party-all serve to illustrate this point.…”

Territorial Politics and the Statewide Party

“…Based on evidence primarily from parties in Western Europe, four types of factors have been proposed to explain multi-level party organization: (1) systemic features such as the type of federalism, electoral rules and laws; (2) the nature of statewide and regional party competition, especially the degree to which the party system is nationalized, which in turn can be related to the structure of underlying sociological cleavages; (3) political factors such as the incumbency status of the statewide and regional branches; and finally, 4internal party features such as the institutionalization of the party's organization, party ideology, the presence of powerful figures at the regional level and the party's general attitude towards decentralization of power, both within the party organization and within the state (DETTERBECK and RENZSCH, 2003;DESCHOUWER, 2003;FABRE, 2008a;HOPKIN, 2003;SCHARPF, 1995;SWENDEN and MADDENS, 2009a;THORLAKSON, 2009).…”