Publications

Governing with flexible majorities expands the scope for political action. Despite this, the traffic

light coalition continues to rely exclusively on rigid majorities, loyalty oaths and rigid coalition

discipline. There are other ways of making modern governance work in...

Parties and governments are better than their reputation. That includes Germany’s grand coalition: out of a total of 294 promises included in the 2018 coalition agreement, almost 80 percent were realized in full or in part. This is also reflected in surveys showing that...

The social divide in voter turnout narrowed slightly in the 2017 federal election.

The “Corona Effect” could change that at the 2021 federal election, reducing voter turnout

as a long-term effect of the pandemic and widening the social divide once more.

Just under eight percent of all eligible voters in Germany have manifest right-wing extremist attitudes. Among populist voters, however, the proportion is more than twice as high, and among AfD supporters it is almost four times as high. More than half of AfD voters hold...

How widespread is populism one year before the 2021 federal elections? And how has the corona crisis shaped public opinion? Our analysis shows that populist attitudes have become much less pronounced and widespread, above all in the political center. At the same time,...

Turnaround in public opinion:

populist attitudes have become much less pronounced and widespread, above all in the political center. As populism declines, populists have been put on the defensive. At the same time, further radicalization on the right is

becoming a more...

More than two-thirds (68%) of all people in Germany currently regard the state as being strong and capable of acting. Seven in ten (70%) are satisfied with the way the government has been dealing with the corona crisis. This means that the interim assessment of its first...

Are Eastern Germans “wired” differently? The results of the recent state elections in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony appear to support this hypothesis. But, more than anything, they reflect new lines of conflict in society that are very similar in Eastern and Western...

In the first 15 months of its government activity, Germany’s grand coalition has already fulfilled or started on more than 60 percent of its 296 promises.

This points to a record-breaking mid-term balance for the current government. At the same time, only ten percent of all...

Is populism in Germany a temporary phenomenon or a result of fundamental societal changes? One year after the federal election 2017, an analysis shows that populist attitudes are on the rise - particularly in the political center. By addressing issues of social justice, the...