The Selection of Political Party Leaders in Contemporary Parliamentary Democracies

Abstract

Party leaders in Germany are important political figures who preside over complex, multi-layered organisations. Parties are crucial players in running elections, organising parliaments and recruiting government personnel; their central role in the democratic process is constitutionally recognised in the German Basic Law. Yet, parties are also decisive in making cooperative federalism work. The German federal system is characterised by a strong degree of interlocking between the territorial levels. The German parties mirror this institutional setting through strong vertical integration inside their organisations. Elite negotiations within and across party lines are routine business in the second federal chamber and other intergovernmental arenas (Lehmbruch 2000; Renzsch 2000). In this context of an interlocked federal party democracy, the relative power of national party leaders strongly depends on vertical power balances within the party and his/her talent for political bargaining. Given this political context, it may come as less of a surprise to learn that the selection of party leaders in Germany has been and still is an elite affair which is most often determined behind closed doors.

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