Elections In Germany Research Articles

Ticket-balancing in mixed-member proportional systems. Comparing sub-national elections in Germany

This article compares ticket-balancing processes in pure and mixed-member proportional systems, which differ with regard to the type of candidature—party list versus combination of single-member and party list. By comparing sub-national elections in Germany between 2000 and 2004, we analyse the impact of double-nominations on the share of safely listed women. Whereas a cross-sectional multiple OLS-regression analysis finds no direct effect except that women's share is dependent on candidate gender quotas and a minimum of two safe list places, there is clear evidence of an interactive relationship between quotas and nominations. Selectors strategically use candidate selection to fulfil gender quotas and frequently nominate female district candidates on safe list places.

North Rhine Westphalia: the Land election that dismissed a federal government

The election in Germany's most populated Land brought the CDU to power in Düsseldorf, but also led to advanced federal elections which changed the destiny of the whole country. This article analyzes the background of this decisive election, as well as the campaign and the results. The defeat of the incumbent government is explained by the rising tumout, and the losses both to the right and to the left. The SPD lost its dominance among the economically active age groups, fared worse in the economically affluent parts of North Rhine Westphalia, and lost some university towns. Immediately after the results were announced, SPD leaders Müntefering and Schröder decided to “flee to the front”, bringing forward a new federal election. On the left, the results encouraged the foundation of a new federal party. These federal developments overshadowed the consequences for North Rhine Westphalia, where for the first time in 40 years, the CDU took over the helm.

Auflösung oder Selbstauflösung? Anmerkungen zur Verfassungsdiskussion nach der Vertrauensfrage des Bundeskanzlers 2005

The way the general election in Germany came about in 2005 aroused considerable controversy in the media and among experts on constitutional law. Finally, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that the election of the Bundestag could take place. Once the election campaign had started, the debate about the rules for dissolving the German parliament ceased. The only upshot of the discussion was the intention — uttered by many politicians — to add the Bundestag’s right of self-dissolution to the constitution. Self-dissolution, however, is not without risks and may even prolong governmental crises. The juridical and psychological problems of the vote of confidence could rather be solved by supplementing article 68 of the Basic Law. A new article 68a should enable the Chancellor to ask directly for the dissolution of parliament. Thus, the members of the Bundestag would no longer be urged to give a dishonest answer to a question both incorrect and wrong.

Kurs auf linke Mehrheit in der Gesellschaft

For the left, the results of the federal elections in Germany were almost the optimum. The main message was: the Germans stick to social justice and the principles of the welfare state, they don’t accept the anglo-saxon type of capitalism. Neo-liberalism is in a crisis of acceptance. There is the potential for a left majority. This will not come automatically. Social movements and pressure from the society will have to play an important role. This has to happen while respecting the different character and logics of parliamentary extra parliamentary work.

Germany and Japan as Newly Declining Countries (NDCs)

This article reviews the structural problems of the political economies of Germany and Japan, their reduced competitiveness, industrial “hollowing-out” of corporate emigration, and their banking crises following past capital misallocations. To this, policy responses have been grossly inadequate as Japan resorted to massive public works programmes and Germany to an expanded welfare state—both entirely debt financed and unsustainable. These policy choices were the result of vested interests embedded in cartelized political structures and conformist public cultures, with growing tendencies towards collusion and corruption. Germany's and Japan's problems are compounded by societal value changes of an eroding work ethic and the rise of a hedonistic individualism, as evident, inter alia in catastrophic demographic data. As the political class and societies at large are still in a denial mode in both countries—after the September 2005 elections in Germany more so than in Japan—the much needed structural reforms are unlikely to be undertaken anytime soon.

Corporate Governance Reform in Germany: The Second Decade

Notwithstanding one decade of corporate law reform during which the German legislature augmented the traditional explicit system of corporate control with market-based corporate governance devices, the German corporate governance reform law agenda is still packed. The paper provides an overview of the status of corporate law making on the verge of early Federal elections in Germany and examines the driving forces behind current reforms. It also considers governance-related securities and accounting law reforms. The authors provide brief comments on pending legislative steps and measure the impact of the reforms on the overall structure of the German corporate governance system. The paper serves two purposes. On the one hand, it provides an insight into the dynamic development of German corporate law under the influence of European, national, and international reform agendas. On the other hand, it describes the transition from the traditional German explicit system of corporate control to a system in which the legislature assigns capital markets a greater share in controlling managers.

Corporate Governance Reform in Germany: The Second Decade

Notwithstanding one decade of corporate law reform during which the German legislature augmented the traditional explicit system of corporate control with market-based corporate governance devices, the German corporate governance reform law agenda is still packed. The paper provides an overview of the status of corporate law making on the verge of early Federal elections in Germany and examines the driving forces behind current reforms. It also considers governance-related securities and accounting law reforms. The authors provide brief comments on pending legislative steps and measure the impact of the reforms on the overall structure of the German corporate governance system. The paper serves two purposes. On the one hand, it provides an insight into the dynamic development of German corporate law under the influence of European, national, and international reform agendas. On the other hand, it describes the transition from the traditional German explicit system of corporate control to a system in which the legislature assigns capital markets a greater share in controlling managers.

Another Look at Connections Across German Elections

By examining connections between recent federal and state elections in Germany, we evaluate whether German elections seem to be maintaining some interesting preunification patterns broadly reminiscent of American elections, even as the re-absorption of the East has made the German party system more chaotic. Regional partisan stability does persist and there is continuity by way of a robust ‘moderating elections’ phenomenon: all parties suffer in state polls when holding power nationally, the big parties quite substantially. The evidence for retrospective economic voting of late, though mixed, is actually stronger than was the comparable evidence for the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The larger goal is to begin to explore how one might develop a cross-national analysis of whether there are general patterns consistent with actors in parliamentary democracies exploiting multiple occasions to vote - as created by bicameralism, federalism, mixed proportional-plural electoral rules, and local government - systematically in an effort to rein in governments or finetune policy.

The federal election in Germany, September 2002

The federal election in Germany, September 2002

The Japanese House of Councillors election 1998 in comparative perspective

The Japanese House of Councillors is elected by a two-vote electoral system that is a unique combination of non-unique components. As such, it provides a useful case to examine theories about the impact of electoral systems on the number of parties that will compete nationally and within each constituency, and on the level of proportionality. The election is considered within a comparative context provided by two-vote elections in Germany, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. It emerges that the level of vote-splitting in Germany, though extensively studied, is relatively low in comparative terms. The extent and impact of malapportionment are also examined.

Do the Candidates Matter?

Scholars of political communication seem to agree that western democracies share some common long-term trends of election coverage. The authors raise the question whether this assumption really is supported by empirical data and illustrate this by using the USA and Germany as examples. They present results from a content analysis of the campaign coverage of four German quality papers in all previous national elections in Germany between 1949 and 1998. The focus was on investigating the amount, personalization, tone and interpreting character of campaign coverage in general and the portrayal of the candidates for the chancellorship in particular. The study found that: (1) there was no overall trend towards more or less campaign coverage; (2) there was no overall trend towards more personalization; (3) there was no overall trend towards negativism; (4) there was a trend towards more interpreting coverage. The article concludes with a discussion of possible reasons for these findings and the apparent differences between Germany and the USA.

Turning indifference into a minor landslide: The 1999 European elections in Germany

Turning indifference into a minor landslide: The 1999 European elections in Germany

Issue news and electoral volatility

Abstract. This article shows that issue coverage in the media partly explains both the political landslide at the 1994 elections in the Netherlands and the political continuity in the 1994 elections in Germany. Theories of issue voting guided the research. Issue ownership theory maintains that voters will remember which party has the best record of solving problems in emphasized issue areas. Proximity models and directional models suggest that voters’ own issue positions will be compared to the perceived issue positions of parties. A longitudinal content analysis of ten newspapers and five television news programmes was performed to ascertain selective issue emphasis and the issue positions attributed to parties. Election outcomes and weekly opinion polls were used to measure the volatility of the vote.

Issue News and Electoral Volatility: A Comparative Analysis of Media Effects during the 1994 Election Campaigns in Germany and the Netherlands

This article shows that issue coverage in the media partly explains both the political landslide at the 1994 elections in the Netherlands and the political continuity in the 1994 elections in Germany. Theories of issue voting guided the research. Issue ownership theory maintains that voters will remember which party has the best record of solving problems in emphasized issue areas. Proximity models and directional models suggest that voters' own issue positions will be compared to the perceived issue positions of parties. A longitudinal content analysis of ten newspapers and five television news programmes was performed to as- certain selective issue emphasis and the issue positions attributed to parties. Election outcomes and weekly opinion polls were used to measure the volatility of the vote.

The Ephemeral Era: Gilles Lipovetsky

brief reference to the immigration question within the general framework of the global door-slamming by rich nations on immigrants from poor neighboring countries, no special mention is made of France as a particularly troubling spot in the world. While there are references to important elections in Germany and Russia, nothing is said about the French upcoming April presidential elections, as if an election that will change the nature of a fourteen-year r6gime (and for which only a few seem eager to be candidates) were not important. There is an old French proverb, Happy people do not have History. It's probably too rash to conclude from the absence of France in the Newsweek article -that that country has now reached the blissful status of a happy people that time has forgotten. However, if this were the case, there is no doubt that the philosopher of such a nation would be Gilles Lipovetsky. Contrary to the other French jeunes essayistes (such as Bernard-Henri Levy, Pascal Bruckner, Alain Finkielkraut, Luc Ferry, and others), Lipovetsky is a supporting chronicler of a post-1968 French society perceived as indulgent and narcissistic, living in a satisfying democracy organized as a free market and driven by the opiate of advertising and frivolous desires generated by fads. This stance places Lipovetsky at odds with the French intellectual tradition, which has always considered individualism as a social poison. Although French intellectuals have valorized a right social disobedience to oppose a perceived mistake by the majority, individualism for the sake of personal gratification has always been rejected as not socially conscious. The whole social fabric of France, in a sense, has been shaped since the French Revolution so as to counteract the idle, narcissistic characteristics of its former aristocracy. Fraternity has been elevated to the status of key-word in the new egalitarian order of the Republic, and it is assumed that the genius of our great figures is due largely to their caring for the community, and not indulging in a selfish pursuit of individual happiness. Even Tocqueville, a

Political Television Advertising in Western Democracies: A Comparison of Campaign Broadcasts in the United States, Germany, and France

This study describes and compares political broadcasts by candidates and parties in recent national elections in Germany (1990), the United States (1988), and France (1988). Comparisons encompass verbal content, nonverbal content, and television production techniques of advertisements. Issue content dominated French ads and often American ads as well; German spots were more likely to concentrate on party and candidate images. French broadcasts were also more likely to use logical appeals, whereas American and German ads relied on emotional appeals. The study also compares the particular issues stressed and the formats and presentation techniques of the ads, finding remarkable similarities in strategies used by incumbents and challengers across all three countries. Despite the differences in the cultural and political systems of the three countries, many aspects of the advertising are similar. This suggests that there are definite shared cultural and political values that give rise to similar electoral str...

Does local party organisation make a difference? Political parties and local government elections in Germany

Do large and locally organised memberships represent an electoral asset for political parties in a mass media age? Years of political science discussions of different models of party organisation have produced little evidence about whether, or in what way, alternate models matter. This article examines a survey of 549 SPD and CDU local party organisations for evidence of whether ‘mass’ characteristics are associated with electioneering differences. The study finds that mass‐style organisation is associated with more active local campaigns. Local parties which are active throughout the year and which can draw on relatively large membership bases run more active and more varied campaigns.

Demography and federal elections in Germany, 1953–1990—and beyond

In recent years growing differences in voting between older and younger voters have been observed in Germany. Cohort analytic techniques are used here in order to break up such differences into those that reflect either life cycle or generational effects on turnout and the vote. The data base is a unique set of official statistics that has been collected in Germany since 1953 by marking a random sample of ballots according to sex and age of voters. The analysis shows that both life cycle and cohort factors have had a significant and systematic impact on turnout and the probability of a vote for each party. It is also demonstrated that the growing polarization by age of the vote for some parties primarily reflects generational disparities, not an increased importance of the life cycle. Finally, the impact of such demographic factors on the electoral performance of the parties from one Bundestag election to the following one is assessed, and a forecast of these effects up to the year 2006 is presented.

West Germany's election

West Germany's election

A statistical study of the effect of the great depression on elections: The Weimar Republic, 1930?1933

The four Reichstag elections in Germany between 1930 and 1933 are the object of this study. A cross-section analysis of 13 regions and a time series analysis show no conclusive impact of unemployment on the vote share of the National Socialist Party. A pooled cross-section/time-series analysis simultaneously considering sociodemographic and economic factors shows, however, that the Nazi party significantly benefitted from higher unemployment. The farmers tended to support the NSDAP while the catholics tended to reject it. The same holds for the totalitarian parties as a whole, the principal one beside the Nazi being the German Communist Party. A Gedankenexperiment suggests that, if unemployment had not risen from 14% in July 1930 to 52% of employed workers in January 1933, the Nazi party would have received 24% instead of 44% of the vote in March 1933.