On the Electoral Relevance of Education Policy in the German Länder

Abstract

Education policy in Germany experienced a boom throughout the 2000s. Numerous reforms were implemented, quite far-reaching shifts of party programmes occurred, and the scope of institutions with an educational mandate widened considerably. At the same time, Landtag elections came to be seen as less dominated by federal politics. Yet we still know little about education policy's electoral relevance. The present article, following a most-likely design, analyses those five Landtag elections that were held since the reform of federalism in 2006 for which the importance of education policy ought to have been highest. It turns out that even though education is one of the very few policies which the Länder can decide upon autonomously, and despite the recent upsurge of regional factors in determining the outcomes of such second-order elections, nearly all Landtag elections are won or lost on other battlefields.

Do Minority Cabinets Govern More Flexibly and Inclusively? Evidence from Germany

“…Our second example is the so-called 'school peace' (Schulfrieden), a bill that passed with the support of the Christian Democrats. Education policy is one of the major conflict lines in the politics of the German states (Wolf and Kraemer 2012). While leftleaning parties favour a more egalitarian school system, Christian Democrats and Liberals prefer greater differentiation of pupils at an early age.…”

Education, Federalism and the 2013 Bundestag Elections

“…Frieder Wolf and Andreas Krämer find that although voters rank education highly, its role in determining voting preferences may be overstated: 'nearly all Landtag elections are won or lost on other battlefields'. 18 Gerd F. Hepp qualifies that in recent Landtag elections where education policy mattered, divisions were not ideological but procedural. 19 In the 1970s, at a conference of Land ministers for cultural affairs, the agenda listed the positions of the SPD governments under heading A and those of the CDU/CSU under B.…”

Die Bildungspolitik der grün-schwarzen Landesregierung in Baden-Württemberg 2016–2021

“…Diese Kompetenzen sind durch das Grundgesetz verfassungsmäßig geschützt. In kaum einem anderen Politikfeld haben die Bundesländer ähnlich weitreichende und tiefgreifende Kompetenzen -was Bildungspolitik zu einem zentralen Thema der Landespolitik macht (Wolf und Kraemer 2012;Schmidt 1980). Dementsprechend ist Bildungspolitik für viele Bürger*innen entscheidend für ihr Wahlverhalten auf Landesebene (in der Landtagswahl 2016 in Baden-Württemberg gaben 25 % der Wähler*innen dies als wahlentscheidend an 2 ), Bildungspolitik ist ein zentrales Thema in landespolitischen Wahlkämpfen (Pappi und Seher 2009) und Bildungsausgaben machen den größten Posten der öffentlichen Ausgaben der Länder aus (36 % der öffentlichen Ausgaben von Baden-Württemberg lt. Haushaltsplan für 2021 3 ).…”