Research on the fluidization of the German political party system by means of analysis of policies

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03465
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: University of Fukui
• Principal Investigator: Yokoi Masanobu 福井大学, 学術研究院教育・人文社会系部門(総合グローバル), 教授 (10220542)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ドイツ / 政党政治 / 政治史 / 比較政治学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I made it clear through analysis focusing on the process of the German Bundestag election campaign in 2017 that the tendency toward fragmentation of the political party system in Germany in the form of decline of the two major parties and the rise of a populist party has become irreversible. This transformation has two causes. First, in the long term, support bases of political parties became fluid and weak as the EU integration process has proceeded drastically and the social structure has changed, while convergence on policy decisions among two major parties became obvious due to the limited realistic policy choices. Second, in the short term, distrust of existing parties has increased rapidly due to the euro crisis and the refugee crisis.

Free Research Field

政治学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

先進諸国における社会経済的な変化が政党システムの流動化や構造的変化にどのような影響を及ぼし、その影響が政党の具体的政策面での対応にどのように反映されているのかという問題を解明することは、グローバル化、情報基盤社会化、少子高齢化等の変化に伴って、財政・経済、社会保障、外国人政策等の問題に直面し、かつ政党構造の大きな変化を経験しつつある現在の日本においても同様に重要であり、これらの点に関してドイツにおける変化を実証的に検証することは、比較政治学的観点からも極めて重要である。