ABSTRACT
Losses at elections seem to be needed to jolt parties into self-reflection. For the Social Democratic Party, it needed the experience of 1976 and a discussion paper on the party’s failings by its General Secretary at the time, Holger Borner and Hans Koschnik, the chairman of the Bremen land organization. Borner and Koschnik stressed how sluggishly party members had contributed to the campaign, a sluggishness which had been caused by the party and its performance in society. On the macro-level of an interrelation between party organization and policy formulation in government or opposition, the limited impact of party goals and the principles agreed at congresses has received some attention. Changes within the party membership and members’ motivation to join the party rendered some modes of party organization obsolete. A further dimension of party leadership concerns the relevance of local party organizations and honorary party positions in the career patterns of politicians.
