Landesparteien in vergleichender Perspektive: Die Linkspartei.PDS zwischen Regierungsverantwortung und Opposition

Abstract

The increasing regionalization of the German party system raises the question to what extent branches of the same party differ on the state level. A closer look at the predominant aims of the parties on the Länder level, such as the will to participate in government, to maximize vote shares and to realize specific programmatic aims reveals such differences. In comparing the behavior of two governing and two opposition PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) parties one finds the following: while the party branch in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania governs in order to try and implement specific program-related goals, the Berlin branch is more of a genuine office-seeker. The branches in Brandenburg and Saxony, where the PDS is in opposition, have changed their party goals considerably over time: the former has moved away from stressing policy-orientated goals to a more overt vote-maximization strategy whereas the latter has taken the exact reverse way. All in all, internal factors seem to influence the predominant aims of a Land branch to a higher degree than external factors.