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Modernisation or Disorientation? Policy Change in Merkel's CDU

2009; Routledge; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09644000902870859

1743-8993

Clay Clemens,

Political Influence and Corporate Strategies

Abstract After decades of relative continuity, the Christian Democratic Union began making major modifications in its basic policy orientations after 1998. These waves of modernisation largely vindicate traditional explanations of party change, as they resulted from a combination of external shocks (electoral decline); leadership transition (Angela Merkel's consolidation of power); and internal factional change (weakening of the CDU's traditional conservative and social wings, along with the growing influence of its pro-market and culturally liberal elements). Yet the nature of Merkel's leadership and absence of a dominant internal coalition in the CDU often gave this policy change an ad hoc, inconsistent character. Notes Tissy Bruns, 'Alles, was gerecht ist', Der Tagesspiegel, 8 Aug. 2007; Matthias Geis, 'Kursverlust', Die Zeit, 17 Aug. 2006, 34/2006. Robert Harmel and Kenneth Janda, 'An Integrated Theory of Party Goals and Party Change', Paper for the 1992 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, 3–6 Sept. 1992; Robert Harmel and Alexander C. Tan, 'Party Actors and Party Change: Does Factional Dominance Matter', European Journal of Political Research 42 (2003), pp.414–15. Angelo Panebianco, Political Parties: Organization and Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp.243, 258. Harmel and Janda, 'An Integrated Theory', p.7. Ivor Crewe and Donald D. Searing, 'Ideological Change in the British Conservative Party', American Political Science Review 82/2 (1988), pp.361–84. Harmel and Janda, 'An Integrated Theory', p.7; Panebianco, Political Parties, p.242. Frank L. Wilson, 'The Sources of Party Change: The Social Democratic Parties of Britain, France, Germany and Spain', in Kay Lawson (ed.), How Political Parties Work: Perspectives from Within (Westport, CT: Praeger), pp.263–83. Harmel and Tan, 'Party Actors and Party Change', pp.411, 419; S.B. Wolinetz, 'Internal Politics and Rates of Change in the Partei van de Arbeid, 1957–1994', DNPP Jaarboek 1995 (Groningen: Riksuniversiteit Groningen, 1996), p.113. Eduard Neumaier, 'Partei der Macht', Stuttgarter Zeitung, 5 Sept. 1984. Frank Bösch, Macht und Machtverlust: Die Geschichte der CDU (Stuttgart: DVA, 2002), pp.25, 30. Ibid., p.35. Udo Sarcinelli, 'Das Grundsatzprogramm der CDU', in Heino Kaack and Reinhold Roth (eds.), Handbuch des deutschen Parteiensystems, 2 (Opladen: UTB Leske, 1980); Bösch, Macht und Machtverlust, p.41. While the early 1980s saw the CDU's 'strongest market orientation', content analysis of its statements indicates that economic liberalism was still tempered by continued emphasis on the welfare states. Stephen Padgett, 'The Party Politics of Economic Reform: Public Opinion, Party Positions and Partisan Cleavages', German Politics 14/2 (June 2005), p.258. Reimut Zohlnhöfer, Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Ära Kohl: Eine Analyse der Schlu¨sselentscheidungen in den Politikfeldern Finanzen, Arbeit und Enstaatlichung, 1982–1998 (Opladen: Leske and Budrich, 2001), p.170; Roland Czada, 'Social Policy: Crisis and Transformation', in Simon Green and William E. Paterson (eds.), Governance in Contemporary Germany: The Semisovereign State Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p.172. Bosch, Macht und Machtverlust, pp.46–7. In the east, 35% of CDU members, 49% of CDU identifiers and 67% of CDU voters in the early 1990s placed themselves at the centre or centre-left (the figures in the west were 22, 35 and 53). Hermann Schmitt, 'So dicht war die Mauer nicht! u¨ber Parteibindungen und cleavages im Osten Deutschlands', in Peter Eisenmann and Gerhard Hirschler (eds.), Die Entwicklungen der Volksparteien im vereinten Deutschland (Bonn: Aktuell, 1992), p.241. Easterners who helped draft a new 1993 Basic Programme lamented their lack of input and the 'inviolability of western sacred cows'. Bosch, Macht und Machtverlust, pp.56–8. An abortion 'compromise' rejected eastern calls for a more liberal law. Gabriele Czarnowski, 'Abortion as Political Conflict in the Unified Germany', Parliamentary Affairs 47/2 (1994), pp.252–67. Warnfried Dettling, 'Zuru¨ck zum Anfang', Die Zeit, 9 July 1998, 29/1998. Franz Walter cited in Zohlnhöfer, Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Ära Kohl, p.41. Alf Mintzel, 'Conservatism and Christian Democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany', in Zig Layton-Henry (ed.), Conservative Politics in Western Europe (New York: St. Martins', 1982), pp.143–52. Josef Schmid, Die CDU: Organisationsstrukturen, Politiken und Funktionswesen einer Partei im Föderalismus (Opladen: Leske & Budich, 1990), pp.256–88, at 271, 273. As one analyst put it, 'No one in the CDU could dare say "social market economics has failed – here is an alternative". Financial Times, 26 Nov. 2002. Karl-Josef Laumann cited in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 1 Aug. 2004. Since it followed no plan but was 'an open field of experimentation', social market economics allowed the Union to react 'above all to the needs of voting groups'. Bösch, Macht und Machtverlust, p.20. Frank Bösch and Ina Brandes, 'Die Vorsitzenden der CDU: Sozialisation und Fu¨hrungsstil', in Daniela Forkmann and Michael Schlieben (eds.), Die Parteivorsitzenden in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1949–2005 (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2005), pp.24–5. Leadership thus required avoiding open identification with or hostility to the interests of any sub-group, but playing 'a rather passive role in the making of domestic policy … being the broker'. Adenauer's indifference to socio-economic affairs made him a perfect 'equilibrator'. Peter Merkl, 'The Structure of Interests and Adenauer's Survival as Chancellor', American Political Science Review 56/3 (1962), pp.634–50. Clay Clemens, 'Party Management as a Leadership Resource: Kohl and the CDU/CSU', in Clay Clemens and William E. Paterson (eds.), The Kohl Chancellorship (London: Frank Cass, 1998), pp.91–119. Die Welt, 8 Aug. 2006. As Warnfried Dettling put it, the CDU had a 'need for thinking and orientation', especially since 'it had much on offer but nothing that made it distinctive'. Die Tageszeitung, 10 Oct. 1998. While a large majority of churchgoing Catholics continued to back the Union, remaining its most loyal clientele, their share in the electorate was sinking. As a result, whereas for over three decades they accounted for half of all CDU/CSU voters, by 2005 that figure had fallen to one-eighth, and the Union 'increasingly had to win voters from election to election'. Dieter Roth and Andreas Wu¨st, 'Abwahl ohne Machtwechsel? Die Bundestagswahl 2005 im Lichte langfristiger Entwicklungen', in Eckhard Jesse and Roland Sturm (eds), Bilanz der Bundestagswahl 2005: Voraussetzungen, Ergebnisse, Folgen (Munich: Bayrische Landeszentrale fu¨r Politische Bildungsarbeit, 2006), p.55. Editorials declared that 'the CDU faces the task of newly defining majority, middle and modern', and 'there are objective reasons for its need to think anew'. Dettling, 'Zuru¨ck zum Anfang'. As political scientist Franz Walter observed after the finance scandal, the CDU would get back on its feet only when it again spoke 'to the mainstream of German society'. Stern, 16 March 2000. 'There is not much left there'. Jan Ross, 'Eine Partei schwankt voran', Die Zeit, 6 April 2000, 15/2000. Bösch, Macht und Machtverlust, pp. 232–3; Viola Neu, Die Mitglieder der CDU: Eine Umfrage der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Zukunftsforum Politik (Sankt Augustin: Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung, 2007), pp.11–16. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 4 May 2005. CDU parliamentarians active in social policy legislation no longer had backgrounds in Catholic charities or unions, but were career politicians. Christine Trampusch, 'From Interest Groups to Parties: The Chance in the Career Patterns of the Legislative Elite in German Social Policy', German Politics 14/1 (March 2005), pp.18, 25. For data see David Conradt, The German Polity (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), pp.177–84. While CDU conservatism had long evoked the bourgeois ideal and 'touched a chord with its "cozy family cozy home rhetoric"', such political themes had less impact in the culture of the new middle class society, which could not be 'divided as easily into bourgeoisie and proletariat, left and right, high and low as was once possible'. 'Der grosse Konfusion', Der Spiegel, 28 Feb. 2000. Thomas Schmidt, 'Nicht mehr ein Spiegel der Gesellschaft', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 1 Dec. 1998. Though only 17% of CDU members professed no faith in 2006, that share had almost doubled from 1991. A third under age 30 never attended church. With fewer workers and business owners in the membership declining, the categories of those approximating the new middle classes had risen to a near majority. Neu, Die Miglieder der CDU, pp.11–15. Franz Walter, 'Zuru¨ck zum alten Bu¨rgertum: CDU/CSU und FDP', Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 40 (27 Sept. 2004), pp.34, 37. Many younger CDU parliamentarians who took part in the 'pizza connection', a quarterly dinner with Green counterparts, would later dominate party leadership positions. Severein Weiland and Sebastian Fischer, 'Die Schwarz–gru¨ne Geburtsrunde', Spiegel Online, 17 March 2008, www.spiegel.de. Likewise, local CDU politicians had worked well with Green opposites, as 'Above all in cities, the cultural barriers between [their parties] has been ripped down. Here the Union is more modern and open'. 'Bu¨rgertum trifft Bu¨rgertrum', Spiegel Online, 27 March 2007. Despite his widely-discussed 'Future Program' during the campaign, Schäuble dampened expectations of a 'new orientation' afterwards, reminding his CDU that it was 'not the German Zeitgeist party'. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 8 Nov. 1998; 9 Nov. 1998. As one analyst put it, 'the personal continuity [that he embodied] formed a certain link to the old government's policies'. Bösch, Macht und Machtverlust, p.66. See Gerd Langguth, Angela Merkel (Munich: DTV, 2005), p.328; Jacqueline Boysen, Angela Merkel: Eine deutsch-deutsche Biographie (Munich: Ullstein, 2001); Angela Merkel, Mein Weg: Angela Merkel im Gespräch mit Hugo Muller-Vogg (Hamburg: Hoffman and Campe, 2004). Merkel, Mein Weg, p.24. Given past experiences, Merkel admitted having trouble with such formulations as 'I'm proud to be German', and preferred simply saying that she 'love[d] her homeland'. Merkel, Mein Weg, p.239. Boysen, Angela Merkel, p.192. Myra Marx Ferree, 'Angela Merkel: What Does it Mean to Run as a Woman', German Politics and Society 24/1 (Spring 2006), pp.93–106. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 7 Nov. 1998. As she declared, 'programmatic renewal … creates majorities'. Bericht der Generalsekretärin, Dr. Angela Merkel, zugleich Einfuhrung in den Antrag des Bundesvorstandes, Auzug aus der Niederschrift des Kleinen Parteitages der CDU Deutschlands in Berlin, 13 Dec. 1999, http://www.cdu.de/projekt21/. Clay Clemens, 'From the Outside In: Angela Merkel as Opposition Leader, 2000–2005', German Politics and Society 24/3 (Aug. 2006), pp.41–81. CDU, 'Erfurter Leitsätze, Aufbruch 1999', 12. Parteitag in Erfurt, 25–27 April 1999, http://www.cdu.de/doc/pdfc/12pt_erfurter_leitsaetze.pdf. In Merkel's first few months, the CDU website began to play up themes like domestic violence and downplay abortion; she met with an informal circle of gay party members. CDU, 'Lust auf Familie. Lust auf Verantwortung', Beschluss des Bundesausschusses der CDU Deutschlands, Berlin, 13 Dec. 1999, http://www.cdu.de/doc/pdfc/beschluss_131299.pdf. For example, a line declaring that gay relationships do cultivate fundamental values was modified to read that they could do so. Warnfried Dettling in Tageszeitung, 17 Dec. 1999, Bericht der Generalsekretärin, http://www.cdu.de/projekt21/. Berthold Kohler, 'Woran es der CDU fehlt', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 Feb. 2001. Bernhard Kellner, 'Wer setzt sich das Denkmal?', Die Welt, 18 April 2001; Peter Dausend, 'CDU fordert Punkte fu¨r Zuwanderer', Die Welt, 25 April 2001; Karl Feldmeyer, 'Es geht bei der Einwanderung nur noch um die Fragen Wer and Wie viele', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 April 2001. CDU, 'Zuwanderung steuern und begrenzen. Integration fördern', Beschluss des Bundesausschusses der CDU Deutschlands, vom 7. Juni 2001 in Berlin, http://www.cdu.de/doc/pdfc/070601_zuwanderung_steuern.pdf; 'CDU u¨berabreiter Einwanderungskonzept', Associated Press, 6 June 2001. 'Westerwelle geht auf Distanz zu Merkels CDU', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 10 June 2001. 'Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft', CDU, Berlin, 27 Aug. 2001, http://www.neue-soziale-marktwirtschaft.cdu.de; Bonner General-Anzeiger, 28 Aug. 2001. Die Welt, 28 Aug. 2001; Ulrich Lueke, 'Union mit kleinem n', General-Anzeiger (Bonn), 28 Aug. 2001. Konrad Adam, '"Zutiefst' selbstbewusst'", Die Welt, 5 Dec. 2001; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 5 Dec. 2001. General-Anzeiger (Bonn), 4 Dec. 2001; Ulrike Hermann, 'Auf Siegen und Brechen', Die Tageszeitung, 4 Dec. 2001. 'Freie Menschen, Starkes Land: Vertrag fur eine sichere Zukunft', Beschluesse des 14. Parteitages der CDU Deutschlands, Dresden, 2–4 Dec. 2001, http://www.cdu.de/doc/pdfc/beschl-freie.pdf. Jan Ross, 'Die Union der Leere', Die Zeit, 5 Sept. 2002, 37/2002. Patricia Hogwood, 'The Chancellor Candidates and the Campaign', German Politics, 13/2 June 2004), pp.256–62; Ross, 'Die Union der Leere'. 'Die Verlierer', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 Sept. 2002; Ralf Neukirch and Christoph Schult, 'Powerfrau sucht Strategie', Der Spiegel, 30 Sept. 2002. As Andreas Thewalt put it, 'the opposition must be sure that it is viewed by the citizens as an alternative to the governing parties', even if it only differed in detail with Schröder on welfare state reform. 'Reform-Rad nicht neu erfunden', Hamburger Abendblatt, 6 May 2003. Ross, 'Eine Partei schwankt voran'. Calling it her 'biggest speech' ever and 'the biggest of the year', one commentator said she had 'courageously' identified with 'radical reform'. Bernd Ulrich, 'Frau Merkel traut sich was', Die Zeit, 9 Oct. 2003, 42/2003. Merz cited in Agence France Presse, 6 Oct. 2003. Bremen CDU chair Bernd Neumann, in Su¨ddeutsche Zeitung, 9 Oct. 2003. 'CDU-Spitze billigt Herzog-Konzept', Frankfurter Rundschau, 7 Oct. 2003; Spiegel Online, 6 Oct. 2003. As one CDU delegate grumbled, 'Many are sour at the Bavarians'. Stuttgarter Zeitung, 13 Oct. 2003. Spiegel Online, 9 Oct. 2003; 'Klar zu Wende', Financial Times Deutschland, 2 Dec. 2003. Andreas Wu¨st and Dieter Roth, 'Schröder's Last Campaign: An Analysis of the 2005 Bundestag Election in Context', German Politics 15/4 (2006), pp.446–57; Roth and Wu¨st, 'Abwahl ohne Machtwechsel?', pp.55–60. Emnid survey cited in 'Jeder dritte Deutsche fu¨hlt links', Die Zeit, 13 Aug. 2007, 33/2007. As the pro-small business MIT president Josef Schlarmann put it, 'the tendency in the CDU at the moment is leading away from a market oriented policy'. Die Welt, 23 April 2006. CDA chief Karl-Josef Laumann and vice-chair Gerald Weiss cited in Die Welt, 1 and 6 Oct. 2005. Cited in Welt am Sonntag, 9 Aug. 2006; 14 Sept. 2007. Die Welt, 20 Sept. 2006. See his interview in Die Welt, 3 Sept. 2007; 2 Dec. 2007. 'Moderner bu¨rgerlicher Konservatismus: Warum die Union wieder mehr an ihre Wurzeln denken muss', Stefan Mappus, Markus Söder, Philipp Mißfelder, Hendrik Wu¨st, Frankfurter Allgemeine FAZ.net, http://www.faz.net. Matthias Geis, 'Mit fremden Federn geschmu¨ckt', Die Zeit, 24 Nov. 2007, 49/2007 and 'Alles fu¨r die Sicherheit', Die Zeit, 19 July 2007, 30/2007; Holger Schmale, 'Ausser Merkel – nichts', Berliner Zeitung, 13 Sept. 2008. Bruns, 'Alles, was gerecht ist'. In addition to Merkel and von der Leyen, this group included Ronald Pofalla, Maria Böhmer, Hildegard Mu¨ller, Friedbert Pflu¨ger, Eckardt von Klaeden, and (arguably) Annette Schavan. Renata Köcher of Allensbach declared 'Higher ratings are not possible'. 'Merkel steht im Zenit der Wäahlergunst', Die Welt, 18 July 2007. Die Welt, 11 Dec. 2007. Matthias Geis, 'Kursverlust', Die Zeit, 17 Aug. 2006, 34/2006. Die Welt, 4 Sept. 2007; Geis, 'Mit fremden Federn geschmu¨ckt'. Freiheit und Sicherheit: Grundsätze fu¨r Deutschland. Das Grundsatzprogramm, 21st Party Congress of the CDU, 3–4 Dec. 2007, http://www.grundsatzprogramm.cdu.de, pp.48–72. Die Welt, 2 Dec. 2007. Die Welt, 13 Aug. 2006. Freiheit und Sicherheit, pp.24–32. 'Ich dru¨cke von der Leyen die Daumen', Stern, 3 April 2007. Freiheit und Sicherheit, pp.94–6. Die Welt, 9 May 2007. Fritz Vorholz, 'Punktsieg fu¨r die Kanzlerin', Die Zeit, 8 June 2007, 24/2007; Die Welt, 8 June 2007. Former US Vice-President Al Gore, among others, praised Merkel's leadership, adding that she grasped the depth of the climate crisis. Deutsche Welle, 24 Oct. 2007. 'Bewahrung der Schöpfung: Klima-, Umwelt- und Verbraucherschutz: Antrag des Bundesvorstands der CDU Deutschlands an den 22. Parteitag am 1./2. Dezember 2008 in Stuttgart', 23 June 2008, http://www.cdu.de/. A Forsa survey showed that 71% of all respondents and even 44% of Union supporters, found the party's new policies lacked credibility. Su¨ddeutsche Zeitung, 25 June 2008. Geis, 'Kursverlust'. Interview in Die Welt, 9 July 2008. Geis, 'Mit fremden Federn geschmu¨ckt'. Kai Biermann, 'Die Wohlfu¨hlpartei', Die Zeit, 4 Dec 2007, 49/2007. Margaret Heckel, 'Merkel und die CDU: Verdammt zur Volkspartei', Die Welt, 1 Dec. 2007. Brigitte Fehrle, 'Die erste Piratin der Union', Die Zeit, 22 Nov. 2007, 48/2007. Geis, 'Mit fremden Federn geschmu¨ckt'. Biermann, 'Die Wohlfu¨hlpartei'. Walter chided delegates who approved the new Basic Programme for their inattentiveness, citing it as proof of a lack of seriousness. 'Wu¨rdelose Veranstaltung', Die Zeit 4 Dec. 2007, 49/2007. Kai Biermann, 'Angela Richtungslos', Die Zeit, 7 Jan. 2008, 2/2008. Franz Walter, 'Wozu noch CDU', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 26 Feb. 2008.