Abstract
M.A.
Although the Free Democratic Party's (FDP) best performance
at the polls was 12,8% of the votes in 1961, the party has
played a far more significant role in postwar German politics
than its electoral strength would suggest. Due to its
participation as junior partner in coalitions with the Christian
Democratic Union (1949-1956, 1961- 966) and the Social
Democratic Party (1969 to present), the FOP has been represented
in the Federal German Government longer than either the
CDU or SPD. As it is exceptional for a single party to gain
an overall majority in German politics, the two major parties
are dependent on the FDP, as the only other party represented
in the Bundestag, for the formation of a coalition government.
Thus, in a certain sense, the FDP "determines" which of the
major parties is to form the government.
The purpose of this study is to analyse the development of the
FDP from 1945 to the present, whilst emphasizing variations
in the party's political role. To provide a sufficient background, the development of German liberalism from the
nineteenth century up to 1945 has also been taken into
consideration.
The German liberal movement has, since Bismarckian times,
been divided into two rival sections, namely "national liberalism"
(right wing) and "progressive liberalism" (left wing). After
the Second World War it seemed that for the first time in nearly
a century both wings were to be united in one political
structure namely the FDP. It seemed as if the rapid decline
of' Liberalism since the turn of the century had at last been
checked, factionalism eliminated and greater unity achieved.
Factional rivalries, however, reappeared and caused serious
strains on the FDP's internal unity and political efficiency.
Basically it was a struggle to achieve an exact position
for the FDP in the political spectrum: right of the
CDU by uniting all nationalistic forces or as a middle party
between the CDU and SPD. The first alternative ruled out the
possibility of a coalition with the SPD, while the second kept...