Bawarski system partyjny po 1945 roku
The Bavarian party system after 1945

The road to political dominance of the CSU

Summary/Abstract: After 1945 a specific party system emerged in Bavaria, based on the dominance of the Christian Social Union (CSU). The aim of the article is to examine the period preceding the rise of this stable system and to present its elements: Bavarian parliamentary groups. The questions asked in the study concern the reasons for such a significant remodeling of the system in the 1960s and the sources of the political successes of the CSU. The formulated thesis refers to the strategies of the Bavarian Christian Democrats aimed (initially) at obtaining and then maintaining power: the CSU strove to present itself as a regional party with abroad public support by simultaneously highlighting the issues of progress and modernity on the one hand, and tradition and attachment to the homeland, on the other. In order to gain a broader view of Bavaria’s party system in its initial form, the article references the political and economic situation in the country after World War II. The study used the historical-analytical method, and in connection with developing avision of the future of the Bavarian party system and the place of the CSU in it – the extrapolation method was applied.

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