Geoffrey Pridham - Christian Democracy in Western Germany (Rle: German Politics): The Cdu/CSU in Government and Opposition, 1945-1976

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: GERMAN POLITICS

Volume 14

CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY IN WESTERN GERMANY

The CDU/CSU in Government and Opposition, 19451976

Geoffrey Pridham

First published in 1977

This edition first published in 2015
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1977 Geoffrey Pridham

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ISBN: 978-1-138-83837-6 (Set)
eISBN: 978-1-315-72630-4 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-138-84699-9 (Volume 14)
eISBN: 978-1-315-72696-0 (Volume 14)

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Christian Democracy in
Western Germany

THE CDU/CSU IN GOVERNMENT AND
OPPOSITION, 19451976

GEOFFREY PRIDHAM

1977 Geoffrey Pridham
Croom Helm Ltd, 2-10 St John's Road, London SWll

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Pridham, Geoffrey
Christian democracy in Western Germany.
1. Christlich-Demokratische Union History
I. Title
329.9'43 JN3971.A98
ISBN 0-85664-508-7

Printed and bound in Great Britain by
REDWOOD BURN LIMITED
Trowbridge & Esner

The idea for this book arose from an initial study of the CDU/CSU as the new Opposition in West Germany in the early 1970s, and of the nature of Government/Opposition roles in the political system of that country. In a wider sense, it drew on earlier research on confession as a factor in German political development and a general interest in the study of German political parties.

I wish to express my warmest thanks to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for providing me with substantial grants for three-month visits to the Federal Republic in both 1973 and 1976. The publication of this book would not have been possible without the generous financial support in this respect of the Social Science Research Institute of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the University of Bristol publications committee, for which I gratefully offer my thanks. During my several research visits to West Germany, I have received the unfailing assistance and co-operation of many organisations and individuals from the CDU/CSU, which are generally acknowledged in the Note on Source's and List of Interviews at the end of this book, as well as the encouragement of friends and acquaintances from different political persuasions. I should like in particular to mention in this connection Dr Hildegard Schluter and the staff of the Bundesgeschftsstelle der CDU in Bonn, the staff of the Bundestag Library and press archives, officials of the Landesverbnde of the CDU and also Sigrid Lanzrath of Inter Nationes, Wolfgang Dexheimer, Klaus Sieveking, the late Rudolf Ullner, William E. Paterson, Gordon Smith and Peter Httenberger. I should also like to thank the Konnertz family, the Hasselbach family and Hans and Ruth Baumann for their hospitality during the summer of 1976, as well as that of Herbert and Eva Imlau, Dieter and Gisela Denneberg, Klaus and Dorothea Sieveking and Helga Becker on many occasions during past years. It is hoped, however, that the interpretation in this book will be accepted by them all as an attempt at academic impartiality.

My greatest individual debt is to Pippa, my wife, for her general encouragement over the years in writing this book, but in particular for her work in editing and criticising all draft chapters during the final months of revising and completing the manuscript: Her perceptive comments and insistence on clarifying many points have made an invaluable contribution to this work. Some credit must also be due to her for conceiving the title of the book.

Finally, I should like to acknowledge the help received from Mrs Anne Merriman in producing the final typescript and agreeing to do so somewhat at short notice, and to thank Mrs Jan Nicholas for typing the early chapters.

The bibliography at the back consists of selected publications on the subject of the book for further reading, although the detailed sources used are mentioned at the end of each chapter. A distinction has been made in each chapter between the Explanatory Notes and the Source References, the former serving to elaborate points in the text for the general reader and the latter indicating to the specialist the location of material used.

Bristol
March 1977

Geoffrey Pridham

A strictly national approach to the study of political parties has its recognisable limitations, but also its merits, if viewed within the wider framework of comparative politics. The latter has the advantage of providing, by way of categorisation, a reasonably accurate conceptual grasp of the nature and activities of political parties both in relation to each other and within the context of their respective party systems. In offering empirical generalisations on how party systems may develop, the comparative angle therefore adds a useful and necessary perspective on how political parties function at the national level.

However, a very detailed study of a particular political party has inevitably to base its approach on the national context, and in doing so further contributes in an important way to the study of comparative politics. There are two principal but related reasons for pursuing a national approach. First, political parties are instruments for the exercise of power especially in Western democracies, which usually feature highly developed party systems. The focus of their organisation and activities is within the national political system, although the formulation of external policy may lead to international links with like-minded parties. However, even attempts to integrate ideologically related political parties at the European level with a view to direct elections to the European Parliament have encountered the problem that such parties work essentially from a national.base. The national approach is therefore a fundamentally important factor in assessing the role of political parties at a comparative level.