Opposition in the Kohl Era: The SPD and the Left

This article examines the parliamentary role of the opposition parties in the Kohl era. In the Bundestag, from 1983 on, the SPD and the Greens – joined by the PDS after 1990 – challenged, with little expectation of success, those domestic and foreign policies of the government with which they disagreed. When the SPD and its coalition partners in the Länder gained control of the Bundesrat in the 1990s, they were able to delay or block legislation affecting the Länder. Yet no general stalemate ensued because the Kohl governing coalition and the SPD, not far apart ideologically, reached inter-party accords on numerous bills.