No Escape from the Long-term Crisis? The Social Democrats' Failure to Devise a Promising Political Strategy

Abstract

The result of the 2005 Bundestag election provoked difficult questions concerning the political positioning of the SPD. Should the Social Democrats negate the Schröder government's Agenda 2010 reforms in order to regain voters from the Left and envisage a government coalition with the Left Party, even though this party has been portrayed as "unfit to govern"? Or should the SPD stick to the center, at the risk of losing even more voters to its leftist competitor? Based on a theoretical concept of different party goals (vote, office, policy, and democracy-seeking) and strategic party behavior, this article explains why the SPD did not succeed in establishing a promising strategy with regard to these questions. This failure is caused mainly by the party's internal divisions and its severe leadership problems. In addition, the structure of German party competition and the institutions of federalism make it even more difficult to handle these problems with success.

Lose-Lose Proposition: Policy Change and Party Politics in the Grand Coalition

“…At the same time, continuing to govern from the center while voicing more leftwing themes merely made the party's "political orientation … even more confused." 36 The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 allowed SPD leaders to rally against "casino capitalism" (Steinmeier), declare "the time of market radicals is past" (Müntefering) and push for some corresponding government measures, yet they still resisted demands from the party left, such as a stiff tax on capital. Throughout this period, the SPD as a self-proclaimed party of peace, also remained deeply split on how far to honor Schröder's other legacy of backing Bundeswehr overseas military missions (e.g., Afghanistan) and strict counter-terrorism measures.…”

Rhapsody in Beige: The Impact of SPD Candidate Evaluations on Vote Choice in the 2009, 2013, and 2017 Federal Elections

“…In recent elections the SPD has failed to attract (or even retain) voters on any part of the spectrum, shedding votes to the left (the Greens and Linke), the right (AfD) and the centre (CDU/ CSU and FDP). In addition, Kitschelt (1999;see also Olsen 2007;Egle 2009;Paterson and Sloam 2010;Turner 2018) broadens his analysis to include other aspects of the social democratic 'dilemma' beyond its electoral one. Social Democratic parties also face a political-economic dilemma (pursuing centrist economic policy so that the party appears acceptable to financial markets which in turn risks losing support from core voters favouring redistribution policies) and an organisational dilemma (retaining traditional mass party structures which make the party more stable but are far from nimble in securing floating voters).…”

"Als wär' es ein Stück von uns …"; German Politics and Society Traverses Twenty Years of United Germany

“…As of this writing we have yet to see GP&S's analysis of this last result, although the summer 2009 issue previewing the election anticipated the Misere of the SPD. 19 My own sense is two implicit camps of voters confronted each other in German politics after a decade of political frustrations. There was a large group -a coalition for continuity --largely composed of older voters, seeking to vote for reliability, whether expressed by the diminishing SPD or by the CDU/CSU.…”