The German Greens

Abstract

This article focuses on the process of partisan realignment in the West German party system of the 1980s by analyzing electoral support for the new party, the Greens. On the basis of quantitative analyses of 1980 and 1983 electoral data, a spatial analysis of the German party system was conducted. This analysis reveals the existence of two distinct dimensions of political conflict, one dividing established oppositions and the corresponding parties from left to right, and a second dividing established from non- established groups and the corresponding parties, especially the Greens. Analysis reveals that the traditional cleavages do not explain conflict over the second dimension. The explanation lies with those variables that correspond to secularized, post-industrial conflicts. The finding that the younger, the better-educated of the new left form the core group of the Greens is interpreted in relation to the economic and ideological deprivation of these groups; this electoral reaction, it is argued, must be explained with reference to the intervening effect of loosening social-structural and ideological attachments of voters in the post-industrial society.