@article{2019:wagner:typwechsel,
title = {Typwechsel 2017? Vom moderaten zum polarisierten Pluralismus},
year = {2019},
note = {Based on the seven criteria proposed by Giovanni Sartori, this article
examines whether the German party system can be assigned to the type
of polarized pluralism after the 2017 general election. The results
show, first, that the AfD’s electorate holds above-average
democratic dysfunctional attitudes allowing a characterization as an
anti-system party. Secondly, with the success of the AfD and the Left
the government is now facing bilateral opposition. Thirdly, the
Federal Republic once again is governed by a center coalition. Fourth,
polarization and intensity of party competition have increased.
However, fifth, centrifugal competitive tendencies can hardly be
confirmed and, six the electoral openness of the voters or the
availability of their voices does not speak in favor of an ideological
patterning or segmentation of the citizenry. Seventh, the (ongoing)
exclusion from alternation in office of the AfD and the Left allows
for a politics of outbidding and over-promising on the side of an
opposition void of responsibility. Thus, the party system of the
Federal Republic of Germany fulfills many criteria of polarized
pluralism but has to be characterized as a mixed type. This trend
towards a polarized pluralism is mainly driven by developments on the
right side of the political spectrum.},
journal = {ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen},
pages = {114--129},
author = {Wagner, Aiko},
volume = {50},
number = {1}
}