Vol. 20 · No. 1 · Issue 62 · Spring 2002 · pp. 1-48 (48)

Michaela Richter

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Abstract

This article examines the first red-green federal coalition in the light of the rules and practices that, in the course of five decades, have come to define coalition politics in Germany's party-state. My analysis rests on three arguments. First, while recent coalition studies have stressed the importance of contextual influences (such as constitutional rules or the party system) for German and western European coalition politics, I argue that informal rules, mechanisms, and norms are no less critical. Whereas the former shape the coalition options available to the relevant parties, the latter determine how well they can work together in negotiating and maintaining a mutually satisfactory coalition relationship. In the Federal Republic, such informal rules, procedures, norms, and mechanisms now govern the preelection behavior of potential coalition partners, as well as coalition negotiations and subsequent coalition relations.