Inter-Party Competition in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945-1965: a Methodological Inquiry

• Author: Forest L. Grieves
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296702000407
• Published date: 01 December 1967
• Date: 01 December 1967
• Subject Matter: Articles

910

INTER-PARTY

COMPETITION

IN

THE

FEDERAL

REPUBLIC

OF

GERMANY,

1945-1965:

A

METHODOLOGICAL

INQUIRY

FOREST

L.

GRIEVES

University

of

Arizona

HE

BASIC

AIM

of

this

article

is

to

help

bring

precision

into

our

understand-

ing

of

inter-party

competition

in

West

Germany.

A

&dquo;two-dimensional

scheme&dquo;

for

measuring

the

level

of

inter-party

competition

in

America

was

proposed

some

years

ago

by

Joseph

Schlesinger.’

Unfortunately,

political

scientists

are

wont

to

race

onward

in

search

of

new

theories

and

methods,

frequently

failing

to

experiment

adequately

with

the

tools

they

have

already

uncovered.

An

attempt

will

be

made

here

to

apply

the

Schlesinger

scheme

to

the

Federal

Republic

of

Germany.

Schlesinger

has

indicated

there

is

a

need

for

a

scheme

in

American

politics

&dquo;which

will

reflect

realistically

the

degree

of

inter-party

competition

in

the

states.&dquo;2

The

states,

as

basic

political

units,

sharing

a

common

institutional

framework,

pro-

vide

an

excellent

basis

for

a

comparative

study

of

party

competition.

While

Ameri-

can

inter-party

politics

may

be

labeled

a

&dquo;competitive

two-party

system,&dquo;

this

is

just

a

convenient

way

of

describing

the

sum

of

party

conflict,

which

varies

from

state

to

state.

Professor

Schlesinger’s

two-dimensional

scheme

serves as

a

useful

tool,

not

only

for

classifying

states

according

to

degree

of

inter-party

competition,

but

also

for

clari-

fying

distorted

thinking

about

party

systems,

which

are

frequently

examined

only

in

the

light

of

national

party

competition.

The

two

dimensions

of

this

classification

scheme

are:

(1)

an

&dquo;over-all

dimen-

sion&dquo;

which

classifies

states

according

to

&dquo;the

division

in

party

control

of

a

particular

office

over

a

given

time

period,&dquo;

and

(2)

a

&dquo;cyclical

dimension&dquo;

that

measures

the

&dquo;rapidity

with

which

the

parties

alternate

in

their

control

of

an

office.&dquo;3

Applied

to

the

elections

for

U.S.

President

and

state

governor,

Schlesinger’s

scheme

places

states

into

five

possible

categories

along

a

continuum

of

competitiveness:

(1)

competitive;

(2)

cyclically

competitive;

(3)

one-party

cyclical;

(4)

one-party

predominant;

and

(5)

one-party

states.4

4

The

Schlesinger

scheme,

while

designed

primarily

for

the

American

party

sys-

tem,

has

been

applied

to

other

systems.5

There

seems

to

be

no

reason

why

this

analy-

tical

tool,

with

some

modification,

cannot

be

applied

to

West

German

politics.

Using

this

scheme,

each

of

the

West

German

Lander

can

be

classified

according

to

the

de-

gree

of

party

competition.

The

Schlesinger

scheme

is

based

upon

a

party’s

control,

NOTE:

I

am

indebted

to

Professor

Jorgen

Rasmussen

of

the

University

of

Arizona

for

reading

and

commenting

on

this

paper.

1

Joseph

A.

Schlesinger,

"A

Two-Dimensional

Scheme

for

Classifying

the

States

According

to

Degree

of

Inter-Party

Competition,"

APSR,

49

(December

1955),

1120-28.

2

Ibid.,

p.

1120.

3

Ibid.,

pp.

1121-22.

4

Only

the

categories

relevant

to

West

Germany

will

be

discussed

in

detail

below.

For

a

full

ex-

planation

of

all

the

categories

see

ibid.,

pp.

1124-26.

5

See

for

example,

Charles

O.

Jones,

"Inter-Party

Competition

in

Britain,"

Parliamentary

Af-

fairs,

17

(Winter

1963-64), 50-36.