ABSTRACT
Political issues divided the party and caused friction between its left wing and the government. Whether political parties that have won control of the executive branch can have a significant effect on governmental policy output, especially on domestic issues, has become controversial among scholars. Like many other social democratic and socialist parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has been committed to incremental reform within the existing neocapitalist economic system. In 1979 and 1980, a fiscal reform of the pension scheme became the center of controversy. The chapter focuses on the SPDTs effect on the government’s domestic policies from 1969 to 1982, with attention to the intraparty decision-making process on given issues. It examines the reform package in general and then five important national and state issues in detail—fiscal policy, the decree barring political radicals from public service, abortion, education, and energy—as well as municipal programs.
