Continuing Formalization of Coalition Formation with a New “Sound”
Negotiating the Coalition Contract after the 2021 Bundestag Election
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Abstract
Getting a new government together in Germany requires building a coalition. The process for doing so has evolved, becoming more institutionalized but remaining part of informal politics. Looking closely at the coalition building in 2021 shows that its organizational structure was vertically slimmer and horizontally more differentiated than in previous years. The role of parliamentary actors was more pronounced than before, and parliamentary organization was mirrored throughout it. Yet the strong inclusion of the Länder (party) perspectives prevailed, making coalition building a multi-level task. While the process in 2021 had more procedural transparency than before, its content remained largely out of public sight. At defined steps, party approval was gathered through formal votes. Whether the established account of better personal trust among the involved partners is more than a nice narrative remains to be seen in the analysis of the coalition's governing practice.
Contributor Notes
Sven T. Siefken is a political scientist at the Institute for Parliamentary Research (IParl) in Berlin, a Visiting Professor at Colorado College, and Privatdozent at the University of Halle. He is Vice-Chair of the ipsa Research Committee of Legislative Specialists (RC08) and editor of the journal Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen. His current work investigates coalition politics, parliamentary committees, parliaments in the pandemic, and the future of democratic representation.