For a long time, there were often only a few coalition options in German parliaments and one of the "big two" was always involved: the mainstream parties CDU and SPD. This is slowly changing and, at the latest with the formation of new parties such as the AfD and most recently the BSW or DAVA, it is becoming clear that the days of the dominance of the traditional mainstream parties are over. What was long welcomed, almost longed for, brings with it new challenges: coalitions in parliaments are more difficult to form, parties are struggling to differentiate themselves from one another and the question of who actually occupies the traditional center is still open.
So what is the state of the party landscape in Germany? What happens to our political habits when familiar structures change? And what does it ultimately do to our democracy and our society when the balancing mainstream parties shrink and the choice of parties with competing (value) ideas increases and increases?
With: Thorsten Faas (political scientist & election researcher) and Jean-Marie Magro (ARD journalist)
This content has been machine translated.