ABSTRACT
This article investigates continuity and change in the German party system since unification against the backdrop of longer-term developments in the party system of Germany and other advanced industrial societies. It tests four influential interpretations of the development of the German party system since 1990: (1) the danger of a re-fractionalisation of the German party system; (2) a nearly complete transfer of the West German party system to the East of Germany; (3) the interaction between institutional transfer from West to East and East German political and cultural traditions and constraints; and (4) the main parties in Eastern Germany provide a model for the West German parties and may eventually lead to institutional transfer from East to West. The empirical evidence assembled in this chapter suggests that the first two interpretations capture some elements of the developments but cannot be corroborated entirely. The most plausible interpretation is the third. The fourth interpretation can be corroborated in terms of the organisational structure of CDU and SPD in East Germany, whereas the effects of these developments for the rest of Germany remain a matter for speculation.
