Hallituksenmuodostus Saksassa : pohdintoja puoluejärjestelmän pitkän aikavälin kehitystendenssien heijastusvaikutuksista

Authors

• Kimmo Elo

Abstract

In the mainstream analyses of German political system, the emergence of the left-wing Link­spartei.PDS is presented as an unexpected consequence of German unification and as an indica­tor of the incomplete transformation of Eastern Germany. This view is mostly based on the idea that German unification is a process of political integration of the East into the West. Such an understanding, however, downplays the long-term developments in the German party system. This article will question the mainstream approach by embedding the emergence of the Link­spartei.PDS in the long-term development of German party system. The main argument is two­fold. On the one hand, as a left-wing party the Linkspartei.PDS is a new phenomenon in the German party system. Thus it marks a certain change in Germany’s political landscape. On the other hand, the Linkspartei.PDS catalyses the slow fragmentation of the German party system from a de facto two-party system, based on two Volksparteien, towards a multiparty system.