On September 24th of this year, Germany had its 19th "Bundestagswahl," or federal election. Angela Merkel was re-elected to a fourth term as prime minister, as expected, but the composition of Germany's parliament shifted dramatically. In German elections, a party can claim seats in the parliament after having won merely 5% or more of total votes. This means that several parties are present in the German Parliament, whereas in the US there are two major parties, and representatives of smaller parties are few and far between. After learning about the German parliamentary system, I questioned whether Downs' assumptions that policymakers operate in a single-issue policy space and a duopoly is applicable to democratic governments outside of the US.
The relatively new alt-right party of Germany, Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), won an alarming 12% of votes in this year's elections, marking the first time they will ever be represented in the German parliament. This sounds pretty scary -- AfD is known for its populist ideals and islamophobia. These election posters (with translations in the article) are indicative of the kind of sentiment that AfD is spreading in Germany. However, relating back to downs, the German parliament is also comprised of coalitions; the 5-6 parties usually present in parliament form alliances with the other parties that are roughly aligned with their views, so that they can reach a full majority on policies together. This essentially turns the German parliament into a duopoly just like the US by creating two large coalitions that are either more conservative or more liberal, showing that Downs' theory that all legislators can be roughly categorized on one dimension holds true for Germany as well. Furthermore, in the case of this year's election, we can have comfort in knowing that none of the parties in Germany's parliament intend to form a coalition with AfD, leaving them without an alliance and with little power.
No comments:
Post a Comment