Superwahljahr 1994 and its effects on the German party system
The Bundestag election of 1994 took place in an unusual context: that of ‘Superwahljahr’ and was the most exciting in terms of uncertainty that there had been for at least 25 years. The causes of the lack of electoral uncertainty in the history of the Federal Republic are analysed. The reasons for this uncertainty: historical, institutional and party‐political, are explored in this article.
The German Party System: Eternal Crisis?
Ever since the early years of the Federal Republic, the German debate about political parties and the party system has been almost obsessed with the theme of crisis. Contrary to what seems to be the dominant view from within Germany, this article argues that, by and large, the German party system has performed well. Gordon Smith's centrality thesis can explain why this has been the case. However, there are indications that the future may not be so benign.
THE PIVOTAL PARTY: DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT
Analyses of party strategy in multiparty parliamentary systems often refer to the idea of a pivotal party. But this notion is not uniformly treated and rarely covers the same entities. This essay is an attempt to clarify the concept and to isolate its characteristics. Among four types of “dominated” parties, the name of pivotal party should only be given to that party which controls the maximum of potentialities belonging to these parties, namely the power to modify the government majority by bestowing or withdrawing its support. This perspective also suggests the utility of an index measuring the extent of this modification.