Less Conflict in Times of Crisis? Government-Opposition Dynamics in Germany

The interaction of government and opposition parties in Germany is marked by a highly conflictual rhetoric in parliamentary debates and the media. At the same time the existence of strong veto points such as the second chamber, Bundesrat, and the Constitutional Court regularly requires decision-making by ‘grand coalitions’. Yet, concerning legislative votes on political decisions in the Bundestag little is known about the actual level of conflict and consensus. By analyzing government and opposition parties’ voting behavior during the final passage of bills this paper seeks to fill this gap. Specifically it will investigate to what extent government policies in reaction to the economic crisis in the Euro zone have been supported by opposition parties. It is shown that, even as (larger) opposition party, the Social Democrats agreed with the governing Christian Democrats on important policies concerning the Euro and the economy. However, government-versus-opposition-voting dominates in other policy areas such as social policy.