Geoffrey Roberts - German electoral politics

German electoral politics

ISSUES IN GERMAN POLITICS
Edited by
Professor Charlie Jeffery, Institute for German Studies,
University of Birmingham
Dr Charles Lees, University of Sheffield

Issues in German Politics is a major series on contemporary Germany. Focusing on the post-unity era, it presents concise, scholarly analyses of the forces driving change in domestic politics and foreign policy. Key themes will be the continuing legacies of German unification and controversies surrounding Germanys role and power in Europe. The series includes contributions from political science, international relations and political economy.

Annesley: Postindustrial Germany: Services, technological transformation and knowledge in unified Germany

Bulmer, Jeffery and Paterson: Germanys European diplomacy: Shaping the regional milieu

Green: The politics of exclusion: Institutions and immigration policy in contemporary Germany

Gunlicks: The Lnder and German federalism

Harding and Paterson (eds): The future of the German economy: An end to the miracle?

Harnisch and Maull: Germany as a Civilian Power? The foreign policy of the Berlin Republic

Hyde-Price: Germany and European order: Enlarging NATO and the EU

Lees: The RedGreen coalition in Germany: Politics, personalities and power

Longhurst: Germany and the use of force: The evolution of German security policy, 19902003

Rittberger (ed.): German foreign policy since unification: Theories and case studies

Sperling (ed.): Germany at fifty-five: Berlin ist nicht Bonn?

Zaborowski: Germany, Poland and Europe: Conflict, co-operation and Europeanisation

Geoffrey K. Roberts

Copyright Geoffrey K. Roberts 2006

The right of Geoffrey K. Roberts to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-0-7190-6990-1

First published 2006

15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset in Minion
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester
Printed in Great Britain
by Biddles Ltd, Kings Lynn

My debts of gratitude to persons and institutions for their assistance and encouragement relating to my research into German elections are numerous, and extend over a period of more than thirty-five years, since my first study visit to an election campaign in Germany with the late Frank Carter in 1969. Since then, I have been privileged to observe every Bundestag election campaign with the exceptions of 1972 and 1976, and to undertake research relating to parties and elections in Germany on many other occasions. So I must thank the Nuffield Foundation (and most particularly for a grant in 1998 to undertake research into the history and operation of the federal and Lnder electoral systems in Germany), the DAAD, the Anglo-German Foundation and the University of Manchester for research grants over those years. Among the many universities and research institutes which have provided facilities the Universities of Mannheim and Chemnitz, the Zentralarchiv at the University of Cologne, the Theodor Heuss Akademie (Gummersbach), the Federal Statistical Office (Wiesbaden) and Forschungsgruppe Wahlen (Mannheim) have been the most frequently used, and their staff have always been generous with their assistance and hospitality. The late Professor Rudolf Wildenmann and Professor Eckhard Jesse have been friends and mentors over many years. Materials supplied by Internationes and the Bundeszentrale fr politische Bildung have been of great benefit since the commencement of my research into German elections. Following this very selective listing of my many debts of gratitude, I must acknowledge also the readiness of the various political party offices in Germany and the party research foundations to provide information. The congenial support and assistance of colleagues in the Association for the Study of German Politics have been a great source of encouragement. Elizabeth Carter, Joanna McKay and Thomas Poguntke read some chapters in draft and made valuable suggestions for improvements, and Patricia Hogwood offered useful advice on the structure of the book, to all of whom I am very grateful.

Readers should note that all translations from German sources are my own. All sources cited in the text are listed in the bibliography, with the exception of newspapers and magazines, where details are provided in the source reference in the text. Because many readers will not wish to use sources in German, the bibliography is divided into those published in German and those published in English.

Geoffrey K. Roberts