ABSTRACT
While his predecessors expected the senior governing party to rally behind their policies and public appeal, Helmut Kohl took the work of managing his CDU seriously. As chairman in opposition during the 1970s he modernised its organisation, but in ways meant to maximise his own goal of gaining power in a coalition with the Liberals. Kohl’s personal management style – based on a network of elite allies, his balancing role among internal factions and contact with functionaries – carried over into his tenure as chancellor. It provided vital reinforcement when his government’s image – and his own – sagged. Though his triumph with German unity solidified party support, Kohl still relied on familiar, personalised methods of keeping it in line behind his government. New policy problems and the CDU’s eastward expansion made party management in the 1990s more difficult than ever, yet it remained his key resource.
