State and Politics

In his book, Herbst der Volksparteien? (Is The End Nigh for Mainstream Parties?), Walter examines the “rise and fall of political mass integration”. He shows how the Christian-Democratic CDU party that originated in the realm of Catholicism first got off the ground as a party of dignitaries without any political basis or any firmly entrenched structures (for so long this was the reason it was unable to adapt). Later he recounts how the party then managed to live up to the capital “C” in its name (for Christian) by rallying all kinds of voters round it – miners in the Rhineland, Westphalian farmers and even teachers in the big cities. At a time when the people were sick and tired of hearing slogans and empty promises of a better life, the party represented pragmatism and simple values like marriage and family.

The SPD party on the other hand emerged in the 19th century as a reaction to a particularly strident phase of persecution, marginalisation and government bans. Back then it set up a whole network of hobby, culture and sport clubs, working men’s choirs, nature lovers groups, gymnastics and reform clubs. The effects of this can still be felt today – the party relies on tight organisation, adheres to certain doctrines and oscillates between pragmatic reforms and a belief in some kind of socialist future.

Jaded myths

Both of these set-ups – according to Walter – have fallen prey to modernisation: the socially oriented Catholic roots of the CDU have withered, the post-materialist middle classes of today consist mainly of highly mobile, secularised and hedonistic singles and nuclear families, the great myths of the recovery years have become jaded. The SPD lost its traditional “Party of the Working Man” image a long time ago, the upwardly mobile skilled workers and craftsmen no longer support it, the intellectuals have defected to the Green Party and what is known as the “Frustrated Proletariat” have drifted over to the left-wing party known as “Die Linke”.

Since 1990 the CDU and the SPD have lost a total of 40 per cent of their members. A further problem is the age structure – in both these mainstream parties almost half the members are over 60.

It takes an existential crisis to bring about change

Why is a party like the CDU reluctant to undergo radical reforms, even after three defeats at the polls, as was the case in the German general elections of 1998, 2002 and 2005? What could possibly have prompted the SPD to carry on as if nothing had happened after its historic electoral demise on 27thSeptember 2009?

Walter feels that one reason might be the fact that, even after a defeat, the influence of the mainstream parties remains more or less the same. They rake in generous election campaign expenses and are still able to position their people on the supervisory boards of the radio and TV stations, on the board of directors in savings banks and in the executive management of municipal enterprises. In a federal state there is always an election being held somewhere – the party that fell flat on its face in the federal elections is wondrously resurrected from the dead in the regional or local elections. At least that is how it used to be in the past.

Then there is the obligatory urge to form a coalition – there is no way this can be avoided in a five-party system and this has triggered a new approach to politics. Coalition alliances require politicians who are good at negotiations, who are adaptable, flexible and opportunist. This new system no longer spawns dynamic players with qualities of leadership who can take a party by the horns and turn it upside down, instead it generates ardent supporters of compromise, patient negotiators and well informed apparatchiks. They feel more at home with a limp party base than with activists or “freshmen” who press for party plebiscites or electing party leaders by direct vote.

That on the other hand, the political theorist argues, has led to a weakening of party programs – the leadership restricts itself to promoting the various majority trends within the party, the activists are no longer sure what their “core message” is, the parties exude a strange aura of debility, they lack “self-confidence”. Furthermore the voters in the meantime are addressed as “customers” – fully in line with today’s marketing approach, i.e. being able to select from a product range, buy the goods that will immediately satisfy his needs and all at a bargain price. What seems to have fallen by the wayside however is what this “customer” actually wants. This is diametrically opposed to democratic decision-making procedures which are all about problem solving, conflict management, consensus building, balance and compromise.

The way the land lies at the moment the parties have to be wary of not missing the moment for a bottom-up renewal. The British Labour party just about managed to get its act together back in 1979 and revamp the party. The Italian Democratia Cristiana party on the other hand missed its chance and has faded into obscurity.

At the end of the day

If the party researchers’ rule of thumb still applies, i.e. that only one half of the population is interested in politics and always votes for the same party, that one quarter are floating voters and the other quarter is apolitical, then we can only expect the following – the number of non-voters and floating voters will rise. The parties will all be more or less the same size and they will be pandering to these floating and non-voters, instead of dealing with issues of interest to their regular voters: the frustrated lower classes, the moneyed middle classes, intellectual eco-minded urbanites and Christian country folk. Back in 1959 the CDU gained an absolute majority, but Walter thinks it is highly unlikely that one single party will ever be able to do this ever againBooks