The CDU and the Politics of Gender in Germany

Bringing Women to the Party

Inbunden, Engelska, 2010

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This book develops the concept of the corporatist catch-all party to explain how the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has responded to changing demands from women over the past forty years. Otto Kirchheimer's classic study argues that when catch-all parties reach out to new constituencies, they are forced to decrease the involvement of membership to facilitate doctrinal flexibility. In a corporatist catch-all party, however, societal interests are represented within the party organization and policy making is the result of internal party negotiation. Through an investigation of CDU policy making in the issue areas of abortion policy, work-family policy, and participation policy, this book demonstrates that sometimes the CDU mobilizes rather than disempowers membership. An important lesson of this study is that a political party need not sacrifice internal democracy and ignore its members in order to succeed at the polls.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2010-08-16
Mått162 x 236 x 21 mm
Vikt530 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor284
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9780521765824

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Sarah Elise Wiliarty is Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University. Her research interests include political parties, women and politics, and Christian Democracy. Professor Wiliarty has published articles in German Politics and Politics and Gender and co-edited The Transformation of Postwar Germany: Democracy, Prosperity and Nationhood (1999, with John S. Brady and Beverly Crawford).

Introduction: a democratic paradox?; 1. The puzzle of CDU policy making on women's issues; 2. The corporatist catch-all party model; 3. The postwar CDU: origins of a corporatist catch-all party; 4. The emergence of the Women's Union, 1969–1982; 5. The Women's Union in the dominant coalition, 1982–1989; 6. Looking eastward: the Women's Union and cobbled coalitions, 1989–1998; 7. The rise of Angela Merkel: policy and personnel decisions of the CDU in unified Germany; 8. Christian democracy with and without corporatism: policy making on women's issues in Austria, Italy and the Netherlands; Conclusion; Appendix A: list of cited interviews.

'Sarah Wiliarty provides a fascinating look inside one of the largest and most important political parties in Europe. In closely analyzing a 'traditional' party's response to gender issues, in developing a new and compelling perspective on party organization, and in linking the empirical literature on political parties to normative democratic theory, this book deserves a wide audience.' David Art, Tufts University