Germany's Party of Democratic Socialism in Comparative Perspective
Germany's Party of Democratic Socialism in Comparative Perspective
Author(s): David F. PattonSubject(s): Political history, Government/Political systems, Comparative politics, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: Political history; Germany; 1990s; Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS); electoral success; eastern and western Germany;
Summary/Abstract: In the early 1990s, political scientists expected that the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) would soon vanish from the German party landscape. The reasons were obvious. This successor of the former ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany (GDR) was losing its members, its resources, its battle to distance itself from the former East German secret police (Stasi), and its voters. In March 1990, the party had won 16.4 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in the GDR, but by December 1990 in the federal elections of a newly unified Germany its share had fallen to 11.1 percent of the eastern vote, a drop that was hardly compensated by the .3 percent won in western Germany. [...]
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 12/1998
- Issue No: 03
- Page Range: 500-526
- Page Count: 27
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF