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A New Era of Electoral Instability
[collection article]
This document is a part of the following document:
The Changing German Voter
Abstract Over the past half century, the behavior of German voters has changed profoundly. After a long period of stability, elections have dramatically altered their character - at first rather gradually, but during the past decade at an accelerated speed. Voters' decision-making has become much more volati... view more
Over the past half century, the behavior of German voters has changed profoundly. After a long period of stability, elections have dramatically altered their character - at first rather gradually, but during the past decade at an accelerated speed. Voters' decision-making has become much more volatile, rendering election outcomes less predictable. The long-term process of party system fragmentation that had already been going on for a while intensified sharply. A particularly conspicuous outcome of this period of turbulent electoral politics was the termination of Germany's exceptionality as one of the few European countries without a strong right-wing populist party. The chapter traces this development in detail. It identifies three distinctive phases of party system development: 1949 to 1976, 1980 to 2005, and 2009 to 2017. The topoi of realignment and dealignment are evoked as key concepts for interpreting the trends that have become increasingly visible since the second phase.... view less
Keywords
political right; Federal Republic of Germany; voting behavior; populism; historical development; party system
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
dealignment; electoral volatility; realignment
Collection Title
The Changing German Voter
Editor
Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger; Roßteutscher, Sigrid; Schoen, Harald; Weßels, Bernhard; Wolf, Christof
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Publisher
Oxford University Press
City
Oxford
Page/Pages
p. 3-24
ISBN
978-0-19-884751-9
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0