164-506: Die Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative ( Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative ), or Die PARTEI ( The PARTY ), is a German political party . It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine Titanic . It is led by Martin Sonneborn . In
328-556: A liberal - conservative divide, or around religious disputes. The spread of the party model of politics was accelerated by the 1848 Revolutions around Europe. The strength of political parties in the United States waned during the Era of Good Feelings , but shifted and strengthened again by the second half of the 19th century. This was not the only country in which the strength of political parties had substantially increased by
492-456: A party chair , who may be different people from the party leader. These executive organizations may serve to constrain the party leader, especially if that leader is an autocrat. It is common for political parties to conduct major leadership decisions, like selecting a party executive and setting their policy goals, during regular party conferences . Much as party leaders who are not in power are usually at least nominally competing to become
656-463: A single-member district electoral system tend to have very few parties, whereas countries that use proportional representation tend to have more. The number of parties in a country can also be accurately estimated based on the magnitude of a country's electoral districts and the number of seats in its legislature. An informative way to classify the party systems of the world is by how many parties they include. Because some party systems include
820-416: A candidate in one electoral district has an incentive to assist a similar candidate in a different district. Thus, political parties can be mechanisms for preventing candidates with similar goals from acting to each other's detriment when campaigning or governing. This might help explain the ubiquity of parties: if a group of candidates form a party and are harming each other less, they may perform better over
984-543: A candidate to victory in an election. Some scholars argue that the first modern political parties developed in early modern Britain in the 17th century, after the Exclusion Crisis and the Glorious Revolution . The Whig faction originally organized itself around support for Protestant constitutional monarchy as opposed to absolute rule , whereas the conservative Tory faction (originally
1148-403: A community of party members. Parties in democracies usually select their party leadership in ways that are more open and competitive than parties in autocracies, where the selection of a new party leader is likely to be tightly controlled. In countries with large sub-national regions, particularly federalist countries, there may be regional party leaders and regional party members in addition to
1312-532: A completely new concept. In 1984, a constitutional amendment extended the provision of 1949 beyond sources of revenue to include expenses, debts and assets , too. Meanwhile, Section 24 of the Political Parties Act had established a practice of including all party units , not just federal headquarters but also regional branches and local chapters. Thus, today, financial reports in Germany provide
1476-458: A consequence, the party apparatus accounted for about 38 percent of total expenses (even in an election year). Among the minor parties, only the FDP (29 percent) spent less, The Greens and The Left (41 percent each) also spend above the average share—just to keep the party organization running. Source: Parliamentary paper (Bundestags-Drucksache) No. 17/12340 As in many other countries,
1640-532: A country with multiple competitive parties is not necessarily democratic, and the politics of many autocratic countries are organized around one dominant political party. The ubiquity and strength of political parties in nearly every modern country has led researchers to remark that the existence of political parties is almost a law of politics, and to ask why parties appear to be such an essential part of modern states. Political scientists have therefore come up with several explanations for why political parties are
1804-609: A deeper connection to the electorate. The idea of people forming large groups or factions to advocate for their shared interests is ancient. Plato mentions the political factions of Classical Athens in the Republic , and Aristotle discusses the tendency of different types of government to produce factions in the Politics . Certain ancient disputes were also factional, like the Nika riots between two chariot racing factions at
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#17327875764701968-413: A democracy will often affiliate with a specific political party. Party membership may include paying dues, an agreement not to affiliate with multiple parties at the same time, and sometimes a statement of agreement with the party's policies and platform. In democratic countries, members of political parties often are allowed to participate in elections to choose the party leadership. Party members may form
2132-456: A democracy. There have been periods of government exclusively or entirely by one party in some countries that are often considered to have been democratic, and which had no official legal barriers to the inclusion of other parties in the government; this includes recent periods in Botswana , Japan , Mexico , Senegal , and South Africa . It can also occur that one political party dominates
2296-458: A financial report for the previous calendar year with the administration of the federal parliament ( Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages ). These annual reports cover the whole party organization (headquarters, regional branches and local chapters). They are tabled as parliamentary papers and published by the speaker of the Bundestag without attracting much interest among the general public or
2460-416: A group of leading industrialists assessed their corporate peers to contribute to a conveyor organization an amount based on a small quota and the number of workers employed. Initially the pattern was especially powerful among corporations of coal and steel production. Later on, tycoons from the electrical and chemical industries and even from the banking sector joined in. The funds collected in this manner from
2624-607: A haven for voters disappointed by other parties. It plans to engage in a (self-declared) " populist campaign" centering on: Sonneborn explains this as follows: "Better that we get those votes than some sort of neo-Nazis." In order to achieve its majority, the PARTEI is willing to form a coalition with any other party other than the Free Democratic Party because "We don't form coalitions with joke parties." It formed an "anti-constitutional platform" in an attempt to get
2788-426: A large membership base. Further, mass parties prioritize the mobilization of voters and are more centralized than elite parties. The term "catch-all party" was developed by German-American political scientist Otto Kirchheimer to describe the parties that developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of changes within the mass parties. The term "big tent party" may be used interchangeably. Kirchheimer characterized
2952-485: A large number of parties that have a very low probability of winning elections, it is often useful to think about the effective number of parties (the number of parties weighted by the strength of those parties) rather than the literal number of registered parties. In a non-partisan system, no political parties exist, or political parties are not a major part of the political system. There are very few countries without political parties . In some non-partisan countries,
3116-401: A large number of political parties around the world, not all political parties have an organizing ideology, or exist to promote ideological policies. For example, some political parties may be clientelistic or patronage -based organizations, which are largely concerned with distributing goods. Other political parties may be created as tools for the advancement of an individual politician. It
3280-509: A limited time period, a spending limit or any other kind of limit, are unknown in Germany. The only general limitation on party expenses is the ability to raise funds from private contributors. Due to a supreme court ruling (see below in History), public subsidies to a specific party may not exceed the "self-generated revenue", i.e. the total amount raised from signed-up members and other donors ("relative maximum", " relative Obergrenze "). Thus,
3444-495: A major upheaval in their politics and have not yet returned to a stable system of political parties. For example, the United States began as a non-partisan democracy, and it evolved a stable system of political parties over the course of many decades. A country's party system may also dissolve and take time to re-form, leaving a period of minimal or no party system, such as in Peru following the regime of Alberto Fujimori . However, it
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#17327875764703608-1462: A matching provision and a maximum amount for direct state funding. The 1994 amendment to the Political Parties Act took care of all three provisions (relative maximum, absolute maximum for subsidies and no tax benefits for political contributions beyond €3,300 per individual and calendar year). Finally Sections 23b, 25 and 31d of the Political Parties Act 2002 tried to perfect the rules, especially by timely publication of large donations. (1) Adams, Karl-Heinz, Parteienfinanzierung in Deutschland : Entwicklung der Einnahmenstrukturen politischer Parteien oder eine Sittengeschichten über Parteien, Geld und Macht. Marburg: Tectum Verlag, 2005. (in German only) ISBN 3-8288-8804-6 (2) von Arnim, Hans Herbert: Campaign and Party Finance in Germany. In: Gunlicks, Arthur B. (ed.), Campaign and Party Finance in North America and Western Europe , Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993, pp. 201–218 ISBN 0-8133-8290-4 (3) Boyken, Friedhelm: Die neue Parteienfinanzierung : Entscheidungsprozeßanalyse und Wirkungskontrolle. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 1998. (in German only) ISBN 3-7890-5483-6 (4) Dübber, Ulrich/ Braunthal, Gerhard: 'West Germany'. In: Journal of Politics , vol. 25, 1963, no. 4, pp. 774-789. (5) Gunlicks, Arthur B, Campaign and Party Finance in
3772-399: A nearly universal political phenomenon. One of the core explanations for the existence of political parties is that they arise from pre-existing divisions among people: society is divided in a certain way, and a party is formed to organize that division into the electoral competition. By the 1950s, economists and political scientists had shown that party organizations could take advantage of
3936-528: A new constitution be passed on the basis of wide-ranging discussions, to be ratified by the people (in line with article 146 of the constitution). The PARTEI was founded on 2 August 2004, by the editors of Titanic , a Frankfurt -based satirical magazine. The leadership of the PARTEI and the Titanic editorial team are close; former Titanic editors-in-chief include PARTEI chairman, Martin Sonneborn , and current honorary chairman, Oliver Maria Schmitt. Despite
4100-511: A number of countries, particularly longstanding European democracies. Political scientists have distinguished between different types of political parties that have evolved throughout history. These include elite parties, mass parties, catch-all parties and cartel parties. Elite parties were political elites that were concerned with contesting elections and restricted the influence of outsiders, who were only required to assist in election campaigns. Mass parties tried to recruit new members who were
4264-599: A party that is unable to collect enough contributions from private sources will see its public subsidy reduced automatically and be unable to make all the expenditure that it would like to. Till now, only very small parties have been limited by this rule. When political scientists started to categorize political parties, they identified two different party types: cadre parties or mass parties, which had different origins (inside and outside parliament) as well as different fund-raising strategies. Bourgeois cadre parties relied on donations given by wealthy individuals. Mass parties of
4428-417: A phenonmenon observable among European Green parties during their transformation from radical environmentalist movements to mainstream centre-left parties. An Entrepreneurial party is a political party that is centered on a political entrepreneur , and dedicated to the advancement of that person or their policies. While some definitions of political parties state that a party is an organization that advances
4592-886: A realistic chance of competing to form government. One current example of a two-party system is the United States , where the national government has for much of the country's history exclusively been controlled by either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party . Other examples of countries which have had long periods of two-party dominance include Colombia , Uruguay , Malta , and Ghana . Two-party systems are not limited to democracies; they may be present in authoritarian regimes as well. Competition between two parties has occurred in historical autocratic regimes in countries including Brazil and Venezuela . A democracy's political institutions can shape
4756-441: A scandal of masked advertising on public television, the (mostly satirical) TV spots were presented in the corporate design of a German airline company, Hapag-Lloyd Express (HLX). Nominating candidates only in the cities of Hamburg and Berlin , the PARTEI gained 10,379 votes (0.022% of all votes on national level). Die PARTEI, along with several other parties which had already participated in earlier federal and state election,
4920-412: A single best policy choice without some institution constraining their options. Another prominent explanation for why political parties exist is psychological: parties may be necessary for many individuals to participate in politics because they provide a massively simplifying heuristic , which allows people to make informed choices with much less mental effort than if voters had to consciously evaluate
5084-558: A smaller group can be a feature of party leadership transitions in more autocratic countries, where the existence of political parties may be severely constrained to only one legal political party, or only one competitive party. Some of these parties, like the Chinese Communist Party , have rigid methods for selecting the next party leader, which involves selection by other party members. A small number of single-party states have hereditary succession, where party leadership
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5248-405: A source of party income and were often expected to spread party ideology as well as assist in elections. In the United States, where both major parties were elite parties, the introduction of primaries and other reforms has transformed them so that power is held by activists who compete over influence and nomination of candidates. An elite party is a type of political party that was dominant in
5412-410: A specific calendar year? As a consequence of Hitler 's rise to power in 1933 political funding has been an issue of German politics since the postwar years. Political finance legislation started in 1967 and by 1983 was more comprehensive than other established democracies. Spending by German parties holds a medium-range position among democracies, old and new. German parties spend most of their funds on
5576-479: A specific set of ideological or policy goals, many political parties are not primarily motivated by ideology or policy, and instead exist to advance the career of a specific political entrepreneur . Political ideologies are one of the major organizing features of political parties, and parties often officially align themselves with specific ideologies. Parties adopt ideologies for a number of reasons. Ideological affiliations for political parties send signals about
5740-465: A sub-national region of a democratic country that has a competitive national party system; one example is the southern United States during much of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the Democratic Party had almost complete control, with the Southern states being functionally one-party regimes, though opposition parties were never prohibited. In several countries, there are only two parties that have
5904-450: A successful court decision and a change to party financing laws, closing the loophole. Despite starting out as a purely satirical party intended to gather protest votes , Die PARTEI has since adopted some actual policy positions, including environmentalism , anti-authoritarianism , pro-Europeanism , and some others described as left-leaning . The party has also been described as humanist . In their 2021 party program, Die PARTEI supports
6068-515: A tax deduction (from taxable income) is available for the amount in excess of €1,650. Apart from the prohibitions on foreign and anonymous contributions and a reference to cases of outright corruption ( Einflußspenden ), there are only two very specifically German prohibitions: parties are not allowed to accept any transfers from party groups in parliament ( caucuses ) and from political foundations . There are no contribution or spending limits . Statutory or other cost controls for campaigns, such as
6232-476: A very large portion of society and it can play substantial roles in civil society that are not necessarily directly related to political governance; one example of this is the Chinese Communist Party . Bans on competing parties can also ensure that only one party can ever realistically hold power, even without completely outlawing all other political parties. For example, in North Korea , more than one party
6396-628: A way that does not conform to the dominant economic left-right divide in politics, in turn emphasising issues that do not attain prominence within the other parties. Further, niche parties do not respond to changes in public opinion to the extent that mainstream parties do. Examples of niche parties include Green parties and extreme nationalist parties, such as the National Rally in France. However, over time these parties may grow in size and shed some of their niche qualities as they become larger,
6560-651: Is a backronym for PARTEI, the German word for party. The phrase die Partei ("the party") is evocative of totalitarian parties —such as the SED (the former ruling party of East Germany ) or the Nazi Party —and is thus a tongue-in-cheek reference to the ostensibly totalitarian ambitions of its founders. This is exploited and parodied in advertising in which the SED party hymn, Die Partei hat immer recht (English: The Party
6724-521: Is also common, in countries with important social cleavages along ethnic or racial lines, to represent the interests of one ethnic group or another. This may involve a non-ideological attachment to the interests of that group, or may be a commitment based on an ideology like identity politics . While any of these types of parties may be ideological, there are political parties that do not have any organizing ideology. Political parties are ubiquitous across both democratic and autocratic countries, and there
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6888-423: Is also possible – albeit rare – for countries with no bans on political parties, and which have not experienced a major disruption, to nevertheless have no political parties: there are a small number of pacific island democracies, such as Palau , where political parties are permitted to exist and yet parties are not an important part of national politics. In a one-party system , power
7052-523: Is always right ) is played. Note that the actual text of the song starts with "Die Partei, die Partei, die hat immer recht" (English: The party, the party is always right ) which when spoken can alternatively be parsed as "Die Partei 'Die PARTEI', die hat immer recht" (English: The party "Die PARTEI" it is always right ). Amongst other things, the PARTEI parodies existing parties' features and election tactics and its parody events sometimes include visiting other parties' events. The PARTEI refers to itself as
7216-510: Is common for democratic elections to feature competitions between liberal , conservative , and socialist parties; other common ideologies of very large political parties include communism , populism , nationalism , and Islamism . Political parties in different countries will often adopt similar colours and symbols to identify themselves with a particular ideology. However, many political parties have no ideological affiliation, and may instead be primarily engaged in patronage , clientelism ,
7380-576: Is held entirely by one political party. When only one political party exists, it may be the result of a ban on the formation of any competing political parties, which is a common feature in authoritarian states. For example, the Communist Party of Cuba is the only permitted political party in Cuba , and is the only party that can hold seats in the legislature. When only one powerful party is legally permitted to exist, its membership can grow to contain
7544-407: Is inherited by the child of an outgoing party leader. Autocratic parties use more restrictive selection methods to avoid having major shifts in the regime as a result of successions. In both democratic and non-democratic countries, the party leader is often the foremost member of a larger party leadership. A party executive will commonly include administrative positions, like a party secretary and
7708-408: Is largely insignificant as parties use the resources of the state to maintain their position within the political system. Niche parties are a type of political party that developed on the basis of the emergence of new cleavages and issues in politics, such as immigration and the environment. In contrast to mainstream or catch-all parties, niche parties articulate an often limited set of interests in
7872-526: Is officially permitted to exist and even to seat members in the legislature, but laws ensure that the Workers' Party of Korea retains control. It is also possible for countries with free elections to have only one party that holds power. These cases are sometimes called dominant-party systems or particracies . Scholars have debated whether or not a country that has never experienced a transfer of power from one party to another can nevertheless be considered
8036-399: Is often very little change in which political parties have a chance of holding power in a country from one election to the next. This makes it possible to think about the political parties in a country as collectively forming one of the country's central political institutions , called a party system. Some basic features of a party system are the number of parties and what sorts of parties are
8200-476: Is our mission". Titanic has had the slogan "The definitive division of Germany – this is our mission" in its masthead since December 1989. At the heart of the PARTEI's political efforts lies the aim of resurrecting the Berlin Wall and all other border fortifications along the border with the former German Democratic Republic. This goal has however been hidden away in the last point of the party manifesto and
8364-442: Is reduced as catch-all parties are financed in part by the state or by donations. In Europe, the shift of Christian Democratic parties that were organized around religion into broader centre-right parties epitomizes this type. Cartel parties are a type of political party that emerged post-1970s and are characterized by heavy state financing and the diminished role of ideology as an organizing principle. The cartel party thesis
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#17327875764708528-419: Is simply known as the "PARTEI school". The school's purpose is not only to improve PARTEI official's political literacy but also to provide general educational programs, including IT and foreign languages. The school's director is Heike Zeilinger, with Ulf Mittelstädt and Michael Padefke as heads of the individual departments. According to the PARTEI the school has no real estate of its own. The chairpersons of
8692-432: Is the ideology that is most closely connected to the history of democracies and is often considered to be the dominant or default ideology of governing parties in much of the contemporary world. Many of the traditional competitors to liberal parties are conservative parties. Socialist, communist, feminist, anarchist, fascist, and nationalist parties are more recent developments, largely entering political competitions only in
8856-621: The 2014 European Parliament election , the party won a seat, marking the first time that a satirical party has won a seat to the European Parliament . With the 2019 European Parliament election , the party gained a second seat, held by Nico Semsrott . The party kept these two seats at the 2024 European Parliament election . P artei für A rbeit, R echtsstaat, T ierschutz, E litenförderung und basisdemokratische I nitiative ("Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroot-Democratic Initiative")
9020-522: The Berlin Olympic stadium and to frack the rotund politicians Sigmar Gabriel and Peter Altmaier for cheap gas". In late 2014, after the now defunct Eurosceptic parliamentary group, Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy briefly ceased to exist, due to no longer meeting the criteria of 7 different countries being represented, The EFDD approached Sonneborn with the offer of joining their group. Sonneborn told The EFDD that he would only join if
9184-526: The Bolshevik revolution (1917) in Russia reinforced the 'collectivist' political danger felt by the corporate world. An anti-collectivist effort got off the ground when leading industrialists from the coal and steel industries started to talk their peers into a joint effort. The organizational setup for corporate donations established in 1907 was to stay for years to come and it was to be repeated after 1945:
9348-515: The Centre Party , acted accordingly. Shortly after 1900, two major innovations began to change this pattern of party funding in Germany. When, in 1906, the national parliament ( Reichstag ) started to pay salaries to all MPs, the workers' party ( SPD ) shifted the direction of transfers between party and MPs. In the old days, the party had paid for the support of its MPs . During the 20th century SPD (and later on other) MPs contributed towards
9512-670: The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to surveil PARTEI. The effort failed when the federal office refused, calling the PARTEI a frivolous political party . The goals of the anti-constitutional platform were: According to Die PARTEI, political goals are overrated; on the other hand, PARTEI promises a "modern" version of politics—i.e., they will ask for popular opinion and, once in power, will do something completely different. The party describes itself in
9676-648: The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party . By the early 19th century, a number of countries had developed stable modern party systems. The party system that developed in Sweden has been called the world's first party system, on the basis that previous party systems were not fully stable or institutionalized. In many European countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France, political parties organized around
9840-466: The German states are: Political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections . It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics , and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country, as modern party organizations developed and spread around
10004-657: The Hippodrome of Constantinople . A few instances of recorded political groups or factions in history included the late Roman Republic's Populares and Optimates factions as well as the Dutch Republic's Orangists and the Staatsgezinde . However, modern political parties are considered to have emerged around the end of the 18th century; they are usually considered to have first appeared in Europe and
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#173278757647010168-560: The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology was elected to the chairmanship of the executive committee of the student body, having been president of the student parliament in the previous legislative period. In line with the motto, "We need a children's and youth wing, because we need a children's and youth wing!", the Hintner Youth, named after the PARTEI's general secretary Thomas Hintner, was founded on 5 June 2005, during
10332-580: The Leverkusen city council via the election list of the " Die Linke " party, defected to the PARTEI. In 2012 Dirk Scholl, also former member of Die Linke, defected to the PARTEI in the city council of Saarlouis . In the elections for the city council of Lübeck in May 2013, the PARTEI won one seat. In the election for the city council of Cologne in October 2015, the candidate Mark Benecke received 7.22% of
10496-584: The Royalist or Cavalier faction of the English Civil War ) supported a strong monarchy, and these two groups structured disputes in the politics of the United Kingdom throughout the 18th century The Rockingham Whigs have been identified as the first modern political party, because they retained a coherent party label and motivating principles even while out of power. At the end of
10660-858: The Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Hesse . For the 2003 elections in Bavaria it surrendered in the name of the Bavarian Social Democrats ( "SPD: Wir geben auf" ). In June 2005, the PARTEI joined forces with the Anarchist Pogo Party in an alliance called Zweckbündnis (" marriage of convenience ") for the 2005 federal election . One campaign tactic was to auction its advertising times in German television (all German political parties are allotted TV time for campaign spots for free) on eBay . An allusion to
10824-489: The left-right politics scheme with "There cannot be anything, mustn't be anything and won't be anything left and right of the party!" (This is a reference to a famous sentence by Bavarian Minister-President Franz Josef Strauß : "There must not be a democratically legitimised party right of the CSU .") The PARTEI often caricatures the slogans of other political parties in their own campaigns. Examples include " Hamburg – city in
10988-513: The use of media ( billboards , advertising in newspapers and magazines , advertising with privately owned networks ), which is quite important for campaign purposes. Even in 2009, a year with two nationwide elections (for the European and the federal parliaments), the six Bundestag parties spent between 41 and 50 percent of their total budgets on campaigning. Only the Bavarian wing of
11152-541: The working class raised the necessary funding by dues collected among large numbers of signed-up party members. German parties of the late 19th century were among the prime examples of this. The four major parties of the time all applied either of the respective models. Liberals and Conservatives raised campaign funds from wealthy donors, locally and nationally. Social Democrats collected membership dues to fund party staff, party offices, campaigns and party newspapers. The Catholic minority, which had its own mass party,
11316-417: The 19th and 20th centuries. Environmentalism, multiculturalism, and certain types of fundamentalism became prominent towards the end of the 20th century. Parties can sometimes be organized according to their ideology using an economic left–right political spectrum . However, a simple left-right economic axis does not fully capture the variation in party ideologies. Other common axes that are used to compare
11480-548: The 2006–2009 election cycle, the six parties represented in the federal parliament ( Bundestag ) had an aggregate budget of €1.8 billion, an average of €450 million per calendar year. As in other democracies, spending in election years is higher than in non-election years. This means that in election years the two major parties ( CDU/CSU and SPD ) can spend about €200 million each, whereas four minor parties ( The Greens , FDP , CSU , Die Linke ) have annual budgets of about €40 million each. The distribution of funds among
11644-753: The 2009/10 legislature, the PARTEI student organization was able to advance its own man to the post of the President of the Düsseldorf student parliament. In the 2010/11 legislature, the PARTEI student organization now controls the post of assistant President of the student parliament at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences , their LISTE standing for "List for Integration, Freedom from university fees, Technology and Promotion of Elites"). On 20 April 2011, Tobias M. Bölz, chairman of LISTE at
11808-474: The Christian Democrats, the CSU , spent less (32 percent of its annual expenses). In 2009, salaries and related benefits accounted for almost 23 percent of the total expenses of the parties that elected MPs. About 15 percent of the annual total expenses was operational spending for running a party organization on at least 3, sometimes 4 levels (national, regional, county and township ). As
11972-687: The Financing of Political Parties. A Comparative Study of the Evaluation of Practices in Germany, Norway and Japan . The Hague: Marinus Nijhoff, 1968. (9) Koß, Michael, The politics of party funding : state funding to political parties and party competition in western Europe. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN 0-19-957275-5 (10) Landfried, Christine, Political finance in West Germany. In: Alexander, Herbert E. and Shiratori, Rei (eds.), Comparative political finance among
12136-626: The German political finance regime are regulated by article 21 of the Basic Law ( Grundgesetz , i.e. the German constitution) and parts IV and V of the Political Parties Act. Due to a constitutional provision (see below ), German regulation of party finance is centred around transparency. Transparency has two aspects: annual reporting on all party funds (income, expenditure, debts and assets) and disclosure of donors' identity. Anyone (individual, business, organization) who gave more than an annual total of €10,000 to any party unit has to be included in
12300-458: The German political finance regime is represented by the rules for public funding of political parties (not of candidates nominated by parties). Each year, a total of currently €150.8 million (absolute maximum, absolute Obergrenze ) is distributed in direct public grants among eligible parties. Parties are eligible if they have polled more than 0.5 per cent of the vote in a nationwide election ( Bundestag , European Parliament ) or 1.0 per cent of
12464-564: The North!", "overcome contents" ( Inhalte überwinden ), "Education starts with 'E'" ( Bildung fängt mit 'B' an ), "Youth crime – not with us!", and "A unicorn for everyone" ( Einhorn für alle ). By using satirical ways of running a campaign or making politics, the PARTEI highlights problems in the established system. For instance, the PARTEI successfully effected reforms of German party financing by selling 100-euro notes (and two postcards) for €105. German political parties are funded by
12628-711: The PARTEI beat the well-established FDP. The PARTEI did best in the Kleiner Grasbrook district, where it attracted 39 votes, or 5.3%, drawing level in the district with Germany's largest party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Die PARTEI took part in municipal elections in North Rhine Westphalia on 30 August 2009, garnering 0.69% of the votes in Krefeld . On 17 May 2011, Manuel Lindlar, who had originally been elected to
12792-610: The PARTEI managed to get elected to the European Parliament with 180,000 votes (0.6% of the total in Germany). Top candidate Sonneborn announced that all candidates from their list, starting with him, would take the seat for one month, then retire and thus get the most money out of the European Union. He also said he believed that they were "not the craziest party in the European Parliament". Its campaign slogan
12956-772: The PARTEI slightly underperformed their 2019 result, winning 1.95% of the national vote. The party remained at 2 seats in the European Parliament, with Martin Sonneborn and Sibylle Berg as their MEPs. Between 2005 and 2009, the PARTEI's student organizations began to make themselves felt in student parliaments in Bochum, Aachen, Berlin, Dortmund and Düsseldorf. In most cases the groups branded themselves as List for Grass-Roots Democratic Initiatives, Education, Animal Breeding and Promotion of Elites (German acronym LISTE— L iste für basisdemokratische I nitiative, S tudium, T ierzucht und E litenförderung). The student organization has 8,000 members nationwide, according to its own reports. During
13120-579: The PARTEI to express their support during the 2010 state election. Die PARTEI participated in state elections in Berlin, Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg in 2011. In the 2011 Hamburg state election held on 20 February 2011, Die PARTEI won 23,994 votes (0.7% of the total). In St. Pauli the party came in sixth place, winning 1,450 votes (4.9%), after SPD (37.4%), Greens (21.5%), The Left (20.1%), Pirate Party (6.7%) and CDU (5.8%). In five districts (Hammerbrook, St. Pauli, Sternschanze, Veddel and Kleiner Grasbrook)
13284-559: The United States of America, with the United Kingdom's Conservative Party and the Democratic Party of the United States both frequently called the world's "oldest continuous political party". Before the development of mass political parties, elections typically featured a much lower level of competition, had small enough polities that direct decision-making was feasible, and held elections that were dominated by individual networks or cliques that could independently propel
13448-501: The Wall". (This is a reference to a false statement by former East Germany SED party leader Walter Ulbricht who in 1961 claimed that "Nobody has the intention of building a wall" shortly before the wall was actually built and a reference to "Waterkant-Gate" of politician Uwe Barschel .) The territory of the former GDR is thus to become a "Special Cultivation Zone" separated from the rest of Germany by edificial means in order to emphasize
13612-580: The West German "Party State". In: Review of Politics , vol. 50, Winter 1988, pp. 30–48. (6) Gunlicks, Arthur B, The Financing of German Political Parties. In: Merkl, Peter (ed.), The Federal Republic of Germany at Forty , New York, NY: University Press, 1989, pp. 228–248. ISBN 0-8147-5445-7 (7) Gunlicks, Arthur B, The New German Party Finance Law. In. German Politics , vol. 4, January 1995, pp. 101–121. (8) Heidenheimer, Arnold J./ Langdon, Frank C.: Business Associations and
13776-408: The advancement of a specific political entrepreneur , or be a " big tent ", in that they wish to attract voters who have a variety of positions on issues. Political parties are collective entities and activities that organize competitions for political offices. The members of a political party contest elections under a shared label. In a narrow definition, a political party can be thought of as just
13940-657: The average outlay for all German parties is in a medium range among 18 nations. Parties in Austria, Israel, Italy, Japan and Mexico spend between two and three times the annual per capita amount of their German counterparts. Parties in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. spend between a quarter and a half of the German average. As far as reliable data are available, this international rank order of party spending levels has been fairly stable during
14104-405: The base of the volunteer activists and donors who support political parties during campaigns. The extent of participation in party organizations can be affected by a country's political institutions, with certain electoral systems and party systems encouraging higher party membership. Since at least the 1980s, membership in large traditional party organizations has been steadily declining across
14268-487: The biggest CDU contribution ever by Mr. and Mrs. Ehlerding or donations to local SPD chapters in Cologne and Wuppertal and donations that FDP politician Möllemann solicited for his party), proved that the current rules can withstand such challenges. Each party involved had to face sanctions by the enforcement agency, the speaker of the federal parliament ( Deutscher Bundestag ), and by voters in elections that followed
14432-475: The century, the United States also developed a party system, called the First Party System . Although the framers of the 1787 United States Constitution did not all anticipate that American political disputes would be primarily organized around political parties, political controversies in the early 1790s over the extent of federal government powers saw the emergence of two proto-political parties :
14596-438: The claim that parties emerge from existing cleavages, or arguing that the claim is not empirically testable. Others note that while social cleavages might cause political parties to exist, this obscures the opposite effect: that political parties also cause changes in the underlying social cleavages. A further objection is that, if the explanation for where parties come from is that they emerge from existing social cleavages, then
14760-424: The cognitive burden for people to cast informed votes. However, some evidence suggests that over the last several decades, the strength of party identification has been weakening, so this may be a less important function for parties to provide than it was in the past. Political parties are often structured in similar ways across countries. They typically feature a single party leader, a group of party executives, and
14924-472: The data given in these financial reports: How much money is raised and spent by each party operating in Germany? What assets are at the disposal, which debts are on the books of German parties? For which purposes did parties spend their funds (during any calendar year since 1984)? From which itemized sources did a specific party collect its revenue (since 1968)? Who are the donors of major contributions (in excess of €10,000) and how much did each donor give during
15088-547: The democracies . Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994, pp. 133–144. ISBN 0-8133-8852-X (11) Nassmacher, Karl-Heinz, Political finance in West Central Europe (Austria, Germany, Switzerland). In: Nassmacher, Karl-Heinz (ed.), Foundations for democracy : Essyas in honor of Herbert E. Alexander. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2001, pp. 92–111. ISBN 3-7890-7340-7 (12) Pinto-Duschinsky, Michael/ Schleth, Uwe: 'Why Public Subsidies Have Become
15252-456: The direct and indirect cash subsidies from the public purse to party organizations in Germany to some 60 percent of total party income. Finally, a note of reservation is appropriate: the share of public funding elaborated in the previous paragraph includes only cash that flows into the coffers of the party organization proper (at all levels of the political system ). Considerable public subsidies to parliamentary party groups ( caucuses ) in
15416-575: The distribution of voters' preferences over political issues, adjusting themselves in response to what voters believe in order to become more competitive. Beginning in the 1960s, academics began identifying the social cleavages in different countries that might have given rise to specific parties, such as religious cleavages in specific countries that may have produced religious parties there. The theory that parties are produced by social cleavages has drawn several criticisms. Some authors have challenged it on empirical grounds, either finding no evidence for
15580-413: The divisions between lower and upper classes , and they streamline the process of making political decisions by encouraging their members to cooperate. Political parties usually include a party leader, who has primary responsibility for the activities of the party; party executives, who may select the leader and who perform administrative and organizational tasks; and party members, who may volunteer to help
15744-428: The early 1930s, party finance became an issue of political discourse in Germany after 1945. The concept of transparency was discussed in the constitutional convention ( Parlamentarischer Rat ) in connection with a new article to be inserted into the constitution. As the assembly agreed, a transparent flow of funds into party coffers has been stipulated by the German constitution ( Grundgesetz ) ever since. Article 21 of
15908-468: The election cycle 2005–09, direct subsidies to party organizations amounted to an average of almost 29 percent of total revenue. This has, however, to be supplemented by an indirect source of public funding , the assessments of office-holders to those who nominated them (e.g. transfers of a proportion of the salaries of members and their allowances to party coffers. The total of such "party taxes" adds up to about 10 percent of party income. This brings
16072-494: The end of the century; for example, around this time the Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell implemented several methods and structures like party discipline that would come to be associated with strong grassroots political parties. At the beginning of the 20th century in Europe, the liberal–conservative divide that characterized most party systems was disrupted by the emergence of socialist parties, which attracted
16236-411: The entire party, and some voters decide how to vote in elections partly based on how much they like the leaders of the different parties. The number of people involved in choosing party leaders varies widely across parties and across countries. On one extreme, party leaders might be selected from the entire electorate; on the opposite extreme, they might be selected by just one individual. Selection by
16400-418: The fact that a party is focused on electing candidates, whereas a parliamentary group is a group of political parties, a political faction is a subgroup within a political party, and an advocacy group is focused on advancing a policy agenda. This is related to other features that sometimes distinguish parties from other political organizations, including a larger membership, greater stability over time, and
16564-482: The fact that the PARTEI's official headquarters are located at Mauerstraße in Berlin, the fax number given turns out to be the same as that of Titanic editorial offices. Titanic is the official print organ of the PARTEI. Titanic has a history of participating in election campaigns. For the 2002 German federal election it set up a stand claiming to be the Free Democratic Party and shouted racist slogans. In January 2003, Titanic staff pretended to be candidates of
16728-511: The federal government based on their election results, donations, membership numbers, and income from the sale of merchandise (e.g. t-shirts, stickers). The far-right eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany (AfD) sold gold bars to its members, taking advantage of the fact that at the time the funding was based on revenue and not profit. This dramatically increased the AfD's federal funding. The PARTEI's campaign "Buy Money!" ( "Geld kaufen!" ) led to
16892-481: The federal, European and state parliaments as well as in municipal assemblies, funds for the operation of party political foundations (especially their activities within Germany), transfers to party youth associations and the allowances paid to MPs (for staff and constituency offices) are not included. Moreover, party election campaigns are supported by free airtime on radio and TV as well as billboards paid for by municipal authorities . The current elements of
17056-556: The final years of the Weimar Republic (1932/33), industrialists no longer limited their financial support to democratic parties. Some extended their generosity even to the fascist NSDAP . One of them, Fritz Thyssen (the heir to a steel fortune), had supported that party for quite a while. Now he led his colleagues to fund Adolf Hitler 's access to power. As a consequence of German industry's role in Hitler's rise to power in
17220-783: The first political party in Uganda, and its name was chosen as an homage to the Indian National Congress. As broader suffrage rights and eventually universal suffrage slowly spread throughout democracies, political parties expanded dramatically, and only then did a vision develop of political parties as intermediaries between the full public and the government. Political parties are a nearly ubiquitous feature of modern countries. Nearly all democratic countries have strong political parties, and many political scientists consider countries with fewer than two parties to necessarily be autocratic . However, these sources allow that
17384-668: The formation of parties is explicitly banned by law. The existence of political parties may be banned in autocratic countries in order to prevent a turnover in power. For example, in Saudi Arabia , a ban on political parties has been used as a tool for protecting the monarchy. However, parties are also banned in some polities that have long democratic histories, usually in local or regional elections of countries that have strong national party systems. Political parties may also temporarily cease to exist in countries that have either only been established recently, or that have experienced
17548-506: The funds spent by political parties are raised via membership dues, individual and corporate donations and grants from the public purse ( public subsidies ). In 2009 (an election year), the SPD raised €173 million and the CDU €163 million. For CSU , The Greens , FDP and The Left , total revenues during the same year ranged between €27 and 43 million. A quick glance at the total revenue of
17712-525: The general public, (3) parties get reliable funding of their most important needs via public grants and (4) there is no need to "buy" access to politicians or influence peddling because sufficient non-financial channels for both types of lobbying are available. Any attempt to assess the public share of all party funds may start with the parties' annual reports. The figures given there imply that in 2009 (an election year) some 27 percent of total party revenue officially came from public subsidies . During
17876-413: The group of candidates who run for office under a party label. In a broader definition, political parties are the entire apparatus that supports the election of a group of candidates, including voters and volunteers who identify with a particular political party, the official party organizations that support the election of that party's candidates, and legislators in the government who are affiliated with
18040-542: The group renamed itself “Sonneborn’s EFDD". In the 2019 European Parliament election , the PARTEI won nearly 900,000 votes or 2.4% of the national vote, thus winning two seats which are held by Martin Sonneborn and the Kabarett artist Nico Semsrott . Semsrott left the party in January 2021 over a design draft for a T-Shirt Sonneborn had shared and which contained a racial slur. In the 2024 European Parliament election ,
18204-575: The head of government, the entire party executive may be competing for various positions in the government. For example, in Westminster systems , the largest party that is out of power will form the Official Opposition in parliament, and select a shadow cabinet which (among other functions) provides a signal about which members of the party would hold which positions in the government if the party were to win an election. Citizens in
18368-464: The head of government. In both presidential democracies and parliamentary democracies , the members of a party frequently have substantial input into the selection of party leaders, for example by voting on party leadership at a party conference . Because the leader of a major party is a powerful and visible person, many party leaders are well-known career politicians. Party leaders can be sufficiently prominent that they affect voters' perceptions of
18532-471: The ideologies of political parties include ranges from liberal to authoritarian, from pro-establishment to anti-establishment , and from tolerant and pluralistic (in their behavior while participating in the political arena) to anti-system. Party positions for individual political parties are assessed by different published indices, such as the V-Party Dataset . Though ideologies are central to
18696-453: The implementation of universal basic income . Titanic , whose employees would go on to populate the ranks of the PARTEI, began its political activities even before German reunification in 1990 — it campaigned against it. As Titanic co-founder Chlodwig Poth explained, the magazine sought to parody the Bild newspaper's masthead , which read "The unity of our fatherland in freedom, that
18860-530: The introduction of universal suffrage resulted in the creation of worker's parties that later evolved into mass parties; an example is the German Social Democratic Party . These parties represented large groups of citizens who had not previously been represented in political processes, articulating the interests of different groups in society. In contrast to elite parties, mass parties are funded by their members, and rely on and maintain
19024-785: The leading corporations of German business by committees of top managers were distributed among conservative and liberal parties, initially the National Liberal Party (Germany) and the German Conservative Party . During the Weimar Republic especially the German Democratic Party (DDP), the German People's Party (DVP) and the German National People's Party (DNVP) received this kind of financial backing. In
19188-404: The long run than unaffiliated politicians , so politicians with party affiliations will out-compete politicians without parties. Parties can also align their member's incentives when those members are in a legislature. The existence of a party apparatus can help coalitions of electors to agree on ideal policy choices, whereas a legislature of unaffiliated members might never be able to agree on
19352-498: The major parties felt more or less of a need to distribute public subsidies and in 1966 the supreme court (i.e. the Federal Constitutional Court , Bundesverfassungsgericht ) had ruled that such funds could only be allocated to cover "the necessary costs of an adequate election campaign". This situation triggered federal legislation, the Political Parties Act of 1967. Among other subjects, the act covered both
19516-477: The media. The data presented in the annual financial reports ( Rechenschaftsberichte ) of German parties cover the sources and the use of political funds as well as the financial situation (debts and assets) of each party. A list of the reports is available at the Bundestag website, and individual reports can be downloaded from there. Source: Parliamentary paper (Bundestags-Drucksache) No. 17/12340 During
19680-448: The merits of every candidate individually. Without political parties, electors would have to individually evaluate every candidate in every election. Parties enable electors to make judgments about just a few groups, and then apply their judgment of the party to its entire slate of candidates. Because it is much easier to become informed about a few parties' platforms than the positions of a multitude of independent candidates, parties reduce
19844-440: The most successful. These properties are closely connected to other major features of the country's politics, such as how democratic it is, what sorts of restrictions its laws impose on political parties, and what type of electoral systems it uses. Even in countries where the number of political parties is not officially constrained by law, political institutions affect how many parties are viable. For example, democracies that use
20008-432: The national membership and leadership. Parties are typically led by a party leader , who serves as the main representative of the party and often has primary responsibility for overseeing the party's policies and strategies. The leader of the party that controls the government usually becomes the head of government , such as the president or prime minister , and the leaders of other parties explicitly compete to become
20172-744: The national vote) is quite low, about 20 different parties receive a cash grant from taxpayers' funds. However, more than 95 percent of the total grant (€133 million, absolute Obergrenze ) goes to the six parties that are represented federally. About 85 to 90 percent of the revenue total raised by membership fees plus donations is less than €3,300 per donor and year. Since the 1970s, corporate donations have dramatically lost their previous importance. Four events or decisions may have been influential: (1) tax benefits for political donations were limited to individual donors and small amounts by Supreme Court ( Bundesverfassungsgericht ) ruling, (2) various scandals have raised awareness of parties, donors, media and
20336-539: The new post-war constitution, the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany , stipulated in 1949 that "political parties must disclose the sources of their funds to the general public." However, between 1949 and 1966 this remained inconsequential because no legislative action provided for a binding schedule of party revenue to be revealed and a procedure for the disclosure of major donations. Since 1959
20500-434: The nineteenth century before the introduction of universal suffrage. The French political scientist Maurice Duverger first distinguished between elite and "mass" parties, founding his distinction on the differences within the organisational structures of these two types. Elite parties are characterized by minimal and loose organisation, and are financed by fewer larger monetary contributions typically originating from outside
20664-453: The number of parties that it has. In the 1950s Maurice Duverger observed that single-member district single-vote plurality-rule elections tend to produce two-party systems, and this phenomenon came to be known as Duverger's law . Whether or not this pattern is true has been heavily debated over the last several decades. Some political scientists have broadened this idea to argue that more restrictive political institutions (of which first past
20828-496: The office of prime minister was forensic biologist Mark Benecke who was supported by several well-known artists. Many German-speaking celebrities are PARTEI members, some of whom participate as their candidates during election time, among them Rocko Schamoni , Heinz Strunk , Mark Benecke and the rappers Maxim and Nico from the Berlin hip-hop group K.I.Z . Rodrigo González , Hella von Sinnen , Dirk Bach , and Guildo Horn all had their pictures taken with top-flight officials from
20992-460: The only set of comprehensive data on party funds in a modern democracy. (However, party reports do not include parliamentary groups , party political foundations and individual candidates.) For the quite rare public information on consolidated debts and assets of the major parties in Germany see Table: Debts and assets as at 31 December 2011 - in million € . Source: Parliamentary paper (Bundestags-Drucksache) No. 17/12340 The other pillar of
21156-420: The operational costs of their party (assessment of office-holders, tithing, "party tax"). In 1907, a more potent force in party funding, corporate donations , entered the political arena. The continuous rise of the SPD vote (despite the joint efforts of state oppression and social security legislation) triggered a wave of financial support for bourgeois parties. The democratic revolution of 1918 in Germany and
21320-454: The overall party expenses (as well as revenue). During the years 1984 to 1989, all German parties together spent a total of €5 to 7 per German citizen (person entitled to vote, voter on list). For 1991 to 2009, the annual aggregate per capita spending amounted to some €5 to 10. Taking the rate of creeping inflation into account, German parties have had a hard time to keep up their previous spending levels. Compared with other democracies ,
21484-408: The parties that elect federal MPs has stayed more or less stable for many years. Just one change is noteworthy: whereas at the turn of the century the financial means of the major parties were more balanced, recently the governing CDU/CSU has re-established its traditional lead in financial terms. The total outlay for up to 30 other parties that are not represented federally is less than 10 percent of
21648-441: The parties represented in the Bundestag reveals that a total of €128 million came from public subsidies and €121 million were dues paid by signed-up party members. Donations (from all sources) totalled €90 million and assessments from office-holders (mostly municipal councillors , but also state legislators , MPs and MEPs ) added another €55 million. Because the threshold for access to public subsidies (0.5 percent of
21812-541: The party filed an official complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court . It was officially accepted in February 2011 but ultimately the court rejected it in April 2011 on the grounds that the party chairman as the complainant did not have the necessary right to complain. Die PARTEI garnered 0.17% of the votes cast in the state elections in Germany's largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia , on 9 May 2010. The candidate for
21976-477: The party's annual report. Donors of amounts in excess of €50,000 have to be disclosed more in a timely manner. Starting in 1949 and elaborated in 1984 the German Basic Law has included provisions about the financial conduct of political parties that are not found in other written constitutions such as the U.S., Italy, and France: In 1949, when transparency of political funds was stipulated, this had been
22140-420: The party, donate money to it, and vote for its candidates. There are many different ways in which political parties can be structured and interact with the electorate. The contributions that citizens give to political parties are often regulated by law, and parties will sometimes govern in a way that favours the people who donate time and money to them. Many political parties are motivated by ideological goals. It
22304-443: The party. In many countries, the notion of a political party is defined in law, and governments may specify requirements for an organization to legally qualify as a political party. Political parties are distinguished from other political groups or clubs, such as parliamentary groups, because only presidents have control over the political foundations of the party and also they include political factions, or advocacy groups, mostly by
22468-563: The party. Elite parties give little priority to expanding the party's membership base, and its leaders are its only members. The earliest political parties, such as the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists , are classified as elite parties. A mass party is a type of political party that developed around cleavages in society and mobilized the ordinary citizens or 'masses' in the political process. In Europe,
22632-613: The policies of Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. The formation of the Indian National Congress , which developed in the late 19th century as a pro-independence faction in British India and immediately became a major political party after Indian independence, foreshadowed the dynamic in many newly independent countries; for example, the Uganda National Congress was a pro-independence party and
22796-554: The post is one example) tend to produce a smaller number of political parties, so that extremely small parties systems – like those with only two parties – tend to form in countries with very restrictive rules. Party finance in Germany Party finance in Germany is the subject of statutory reports, which up to 35 parties file annually with the administration of the German parliament . Important questions pertaining to political party funding can be answered by analysing
22960-424: The public contribution to about 40 percent of total party funds . Another source of indirect public funding results from the tax benefits that people making party contributions (including membership dues and "party taxes") up to €3,300 per individual taxpayer and year can claim against their income tax liability. An estimated loss in public tax revenue of €100 million would add about 20 percentage points and increase
23124-417: The rank of a group administrator. This was made public by altering the group names, removing all other administrators, making those groups public and uploading a video which shows a member of Die PARTEI, saying that all people in this group are now being fooled by real people instead of robots. According to the video, these 31 groups encompassed about 180,000 members. Die PARTEI gained 1% of all votes, five times
23288-430: The routine operation of an impressive full-time organization, nationally and in the field. There are two major and two minor sources of revenue for German parties. On average public subsidies as well as membership dues each provide one third of all party income. The final third of total revenue is raised from donations and by assessment of incumbents, mostly in the municipalities. By October each year political parties file
23452-503: The rules for the transparency of party funding and those for the allocation of public subsidies. To this day, article 21 of the constitution and parts IV and V of the Political Parties Act are the legal basis for the flow of funds through party coffers, the German political finance regime. Finally, in 1984 a general format for the comprehensive reporting of income and expenditure, debts and assets by each party organization
23616-496: The second half of the 20th century. The first item of party spending that comes to mind is election campaigns ; a European may also recall that parties employ staff and run permanent offices "on the ground". Someone with an inside view of party activity may also think of conventions , meetings , mailings and other communication . In Germany, campaigns at all levels of the federal system (national, state and municipal ) are run by parties rather than candidates. Nonetheless, over
23780-403: The shift from the traditional mass parties to catch-all parties as a set of developments including the "drastic reduction of the party's ideological baggage" and the "downgrading of the role of the individual party member". By broadening their central ideologies into more open-ended ones, catch-all parties seek to secure the support of a wider section of the population. Further, the role of members
23944-594: The specific scandal . The supreme court ruling of 1958 ended a practice of tax benefits for plutocratic funding of parties by corporate donations . After a variety of circumventions, detours and legislative experiments, this principle was ultimately reinstated in 1992. In 1966 the supreme court ( Bundesverfassungsgericht ) attempted to limit the amount of public funding. However, the initial concept failed because tying subsidies to campaign spending turned out to be not working. A more recent ruling of 1992 allowed general subsidies but provided for two kinds of limitation:
24108-654: The state conference in Mannheim . The Hintner Youth's official greeting is, "Hi Hintner!", thus alluding to the Nazi Party's Hitler Youth and greeting . The Hintner Youth's uniform, with its blue shirt, gray trousers and red scarf are reminiscent of East Germany's Pioneer Organization and the Free German Youth (FDJ). The PARTEI runs a school in Schwerin , which by allusion to the official SED schools
24272-451: The support of organized trade unions . During the wave of decolonization in the mid-20th century, many newly sovereign countries outside of Europe and North America developed party systems that often emerged from their movements for independence. For example, a system of political parties arose out of factions in the Indian independence movement , and was strengthened and stabilized by
24436-422: The theory is an incomplete story of where political parties come from unless it also explains the origins of these social cleavages. An alternative explanation for why parties are ubiquitous across the world is that the formation of parties provides compatible incentives for candidates and legislators. For example, the existence of political parties might coordinate candidates across geographic districts, so that
24600-770: The total amount of funds that it raised from "self-generated revenue", i.e.private sources (relative maximum, relative Obergrenze ). There is a variety of indirect subsidies , too. Among them are free airtime for campaign spots on all publicly owned and operated radio and TV networks as well as billboard space that is rented from commercial providers by municipal authorities and distributed for free among campaigning parties. Besides there are tax benefits for small and medium-sized political contributions (including donations, membership dues and assessments of office-holders. A 50 per cent tax credit of up to €825 per donor and year can be claimed against income tax liability for all donations up to €1,650. For donations up to €3,300 per donor and year
24764-427: The total valid votes for one of the 16 state legislatures ( Landtag ) during the current election cycle. The individual party's grant is distributed based on two criteria: for each vote polled in the most recent state, federal and European election the party is allocated 70 cents; each euro raised in small amounts during the previous year is matched by 38 cents of public money. However, no party's public grant may exceed
24928-511: The turn out of 2013. In November 2020 MP Marco Bülow (former member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ) joined the PARTEI, which entered the Bundestag for the first time in its history. In 2021, Die PARTEI received 1% of the vote for their party. However, they won a total 1.2% in constituencies which is twice what they received in 2017 . In the May 2014 European Parliament election ,
25092-589: The types of policies they might pursue if they were in power. Ideologies also differentiate parties from one another, so that voters can select the party that advances the policies that they most prefer. A party may also seek to advance an ideology by convincing voters to adopt its belief system. Common ideologies that can form a central part of the identity of a political party include liberalism , conservatism , socialism , communism , anarchism , fascism , feminism , environmentalism , nationalism , fundamentalism , Islamism , and multiculturalism . Liberalism
25256-467: The visionary idea of such a zone and is to benefit from a de-bureaucratized and streamlined administrative system. Additionally, the PARTEI is demanding health care reform, protection of natural resources and a program for reduction of working time as an alternative to Agenda 2010 , an unpopular set of labor market reforms introduced under Chancellor Schroeder in 2003. It also supports improved co-determination rights for citizens, in particular it demands that
25420-454: The votes. The vote had been postponed once because candidate Henriette Reker was injured in an assassination attempt. On 22 September 2013, Die Partei reached 0.2% of German voters in the 2013 federal election . On 3 September 2017, members of Die PARTEI assumed full control over 31 secret Facebook groups dedicated to the AfD , a right-wing party, by infiltrating those groups and ascending to
25584-550: The whole election cycle campaign spending adds up to less than spending on staff, offices and internal communication. An important impact on this distribution among spending items is certainly caused by the fact that during a campaign for all states, the federal and the European Parliaments public networks provide free airtime on radio and TV to all competing parties. German parties have estimated that less than 30 per cent of their total expenses are related to
25748-583: The world over the last few centuries. Although some countries have no political parties , this is extremely rare. Most countries have several parties while others only have one . Parties are important in the politics of autocracies as well as democracies , though usually democracies have more political parties than autocracies. Autocracies often have a single party that governs the country, and some political scientists consider competition between two or more parties to be an essential part of democracy. Parties can develop from existing divisions in society, like
25912-400: Was "For Europe, Against Europe", which Sonneborn explained that the PARTEI was inclusive—it welcomed the 70% of Germans opinion polls said were not interested in Europe, "But we also say yes to Europe so everybody opposed to or in favour of Europe can vote for us". Specific campaign pledges included promising to "build a wall around Switzerland , put Chancellor Angela Merkel on a show trial in
26076-433: Was based on a fax by Die PARTEI which expressed that there is just one single Landesverband (organisation in one of the states). Die PARTEI rejoined that no such fax existed and announced legal action. T-shirts saying "Where is my vote, Wahlleiter ?" were sold as part of a protest campaign and the party demanded that Egeler resign after he did not revise his decision. On 13 August 2009, a movie called Die PARTEI – Der Film
26240-484: Was characterized by party chairman Martin Sonneborn as merely a "populist vehicle". He held out the prospect of a referendum after the PARTEI's accession to power. In order to raise the necessary finances for the erection of the Wall members are requested to donate the proceeds of their savings contracts. Sonneborn described the project as follows: "I give you and all the German public my word of honor, I repeat—my word of honor—that under us there will be no order to shoot at
26404-419: Was developed by Richard Katz and Peter Mair , who wrote that political parties have turned into "semi-state agencies", acting on behalf of the state rather than groups in society. The term 'cartel' refers to the way in which prominent parties in government make it difficult for new parties to enter, as such forming a cartel of established parties. As with catch-all parties, the role of members in cartel parties
26568-491: Was implemented. Challenges to the current legislation and occasional scandals (e.g. the influence-seeking donations by Friedrich Karl Flick , the slush funds of chancellor Helmut Kohl and the funds anonymously held in a foreign bank by the Hessian CDU state party) have helped to improve the political finance regime up to a point that is equalled by few older democracies. Other donations, which led to controversy (like
26732-478: Was refused permission to take part in the 2009 federal elections . In July 2009, Roderich Egeler, Bundeswahlleiter ( Federal Returning Officer ) and president of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany , denied official party status and the approval for participation in the 2009 federal election. He criticised lack of seriousness and organisation within the party. He claimed his decision
26896-625: Was released in theaters. On 3 November 2009, the party launched a challenge to the validity of the 2009 federal elections at the Bundestag . Die PARTEI also saw itself validated by Bundestag President Norbert Lammert 's maiden speech in which he criticized the election registration process, because "representatives of the established parties decide whether or not to register the competition". The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 's report on Germany's 2009 elections suggested reforming election registration in order to allow unregistered parties to appeal before elections. On 6 December 2010,
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