Haven’t We Been Here Before? Comparing the Left Party and the Greens

Abstract

If any German party has gone down a similar path to that of the Left Party, then it is the Green Party. Much like the Left Party, the Greens have had a profound effect on party political competition in Germany — increasing the number of effective political parties, widening the party system’s ideological scope and (at least theoretically) increasing parties’ coalition options. Yet, also like the Left Party, at their birth the Greens were an ‘outsider’ party, considered extremist by some, uncoalitionable by most, and largely shunned by the established political parties. Also initially, both the Greens and the Left Party — or at least important players within them — revelled in this outsider status, preferring the role of principled opposition to constructive partner in government. However, it did not take long before both parties found that they could have significant political clout as a prospective potential coalition partner for the SPD. The practical possibility of taking part in coalitions, while emboldening the more pragmatic elements within these parties, subsequently set the stage for some dramatic inner-party conflicts over the identity of both the Greens and Left Party.KeywordsGrand CoalitionCoalition GovernmentCoalition PartnerFederal ElectionToleration ModelThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.