Not a Single-Digit Party Anymore
The Central Role of Alliance 90/The Greens in a Changed Party System
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Abstract
In the 2021 German federal election, Alliance 90/The Greens received its best result so far. The outcome was based in part on a popular party leadership, government participation in different coalition formats on the state level, and an increasing salience of environmental and climate policies with which the party is strongly associated. After the election, the Greens became part of a novel three-party coalition with Social Democrats and Liberals where the party finds itself in a more influential role than in its first federal coalition with the spd. The opinion polls placing Alliance 90/The Greens above 20 percent before the election and its continuously growing membership base indicate a new centrality of the party in the German party system, as well as the potential to further increase its vote share.
Contributor Notes
Niko Switek is a Project Manager at the German Rector's Conference (hrk) in Bonn and a Senior Researcher at the Center of West European Studies at the University of Washington, where he was a daad Visiting Assistant Professor from 2018 to 2021. He received his PhD from the University of Duisburg-Essen. His research focuses on political parties (especially Green parties and transnational European parties) and coalition governments. He has also published about the relationship between popular culture and politics.