COMPACT
PLAYERS & ORGANISATIONS
Political parties
Germany is a party-based democracy. Five parties are represented in the 18th German Bundestag – CDU, CSU, SPD, The Left party and
Alliance 90/The Greens. There are also around
25 small parties, whose influence is limited on
account of the five percent hurdle. Some of
them are represented, however, in various federal state parliaments. The Social Democratic
Social movements
Party of Germany (SPD) is the party with the
Since the 1970s many people in Germany have
most members (461,000). The Christian Demo-
been actively involved in environmental groups,
cratic Union (CDU) has around 459,000 mem-
citizens’ movements, and non-government or-
bers, its sister party the Christian Social Union
ganisations. With half a million members,
(CSU) in Bavaria 147,000 (2014).
Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) is the
→ bundeswahlleiter.de
largest environmental association.
→ bund.net
Trade unions
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
Public opinion research
embraces eight individual trade unions and has
Numerous opinion research institutes regularly
6.1 million members. With 2.3 million members
conduct research into the political climate in
IG Metall, the metal workers’ union, which
Germany. Institutes such as infratest dimap,
among other things represents workers in the
Allensbach, Forsa, Emnid and Forschungs-
automotive sector, is the single largest union.
gruppe Wahlen have a particularly strong pres-
The trade unions’ ideas have weight and influ-
ence in the run-up to elections, but also with
ence in political debates.
up-to-date weekly barometers that indicate the
→ dg b.de
general mood.
Industrial federations
As industry’s umbrella organisation, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) unites 36 sector
federations and speaks on behalf of around
100,000 companies.
→ bdi.de
DIGITAL PLUS
More information about all the topics
in the chapter – annotated link lists,
articles, documents; plus more indepth information about terms such as
Bundesrat, Federal Government, federal state, Bundestag,
Federal Constitutional Court, Basic Law, electoral system.
→ tued.net/en/dig1