Free Democratic Party (Germany)

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Categories: Political parties in Germany | Liberal parties

The Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei - FDP) is a free-market liberal (libertarian) party in Germany. The party is a member of the Liberal International and of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.

The FDP has traditionally been composed mainly of middle- and upper-class Protestants, who consider themselves "independents" and heirs to the European liberal tradition. Although the party is relatively weak, gaining between 5.8 and 12.8% of the votes in elections, it has participated in all but three postwar federal governments in coalition with either the CDU conservatives or the SPD Social Democrats and has spent only eight years out of government since 1949. Still, the German government is much more powerful than most Free Democrats would like.

The party became involved in controversy after ironically declaring itself to be the "party of the well-to-do". Many took this to mean that the party was opposed to the interests of poorer people. It is true that the party tends to do especially well in areas where people are better off. After 1982 the party has moved to the right. In all federal election campaigns since that time, the party has sided with the CDU and CSU, the main conservative parties in Germany. In 1990 FDP absorbed the East German Association of Free Democrats. The traditionally social liberal section of the FDP (containing politicians like Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Burkhard Hirsch) has become increasingly marginalized. Some prominent members of that wing, such as Dr Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, left the party altogether, leading political competitors on the far left to contest whether the term "liberal" is not as big a misnomer, when applied to the FDP, as in the case of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party. However, the term "liberal" in the case of the FDP is often used in the classical liberal sense, wherein the central state is minimized. On the other hand it has also a strong rule of law and human rights connotation in the FDP (it has for instance demanded equal rights for homosexuals [1]), and the party still also has a small social liberal wing.

The party took 6.2% of the vote and returned 43 deputies to the Bundestag in the general election of 1998. In 2001, Guido Westerwelle replaced Wolfgang Gerhardt as party chairman. In the 2002 election, the FDP took 7.4% of the vote.

In the snap 2005 general election the party received 9.8%, a surprise jump not predicted in prior opinion polls. This has been explained by tactical voting. However, because the CDU-CSU did less well than predicted, the FDP with 61 deputies will remain in the opposition rather than becoming the second largest party in a coalition government.

The party's motto is "So viel Staat wie nötig, so wenig Staat wie möglich!", meaning "as much government as needed, as little government as possible!"

Chairmen of the Free Democratic Party, 1948-present

• Theodor Heuss 1948-1949
• Franz Blücher 1949-1954
• Thomas Dehler 1954-1957
• Reinhold Maier 1957-1960
• Erich Mende 1960-1968
• Walter Scheel 1968-1974
• Hans-Dietrich Genscher 1974-1985
• Martin Bangemann 1985-1988
• Otto Graf Lambsdorff 1988-1993
• Klaus Kinkel 1993-1995
• Wolfgang Gerhardt 1995-2001
• Guido Westerwelle 2001-

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in Germany
• Jürgen Möllemann
• Friedrich Naumann Foundation
• Young Liberals (Germany)

External link

• Free Democratic Party (FDP) official sitede:Freie Demokratische Partei

es:Freie Demokratische Partei fr:Freie Demokratische Partei nl:Freie Demokratische Partei (BRD) no:Freie Demokratische Partei pl:Partia Wolnych Demokratów pt:Freie Demokratische Partei ru:Свободная демократическая партия Германии fi:Liberaalidemokraattinen puolue (Saksa) sv:FDP zh:自由民主黨 (德國)