Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

The German Green Party changed extensively since their founding in the 1980ies. Starting as a radical outsider they moved into the center of the German party system. One indicator for their new position and role is their coalition flexibility on state level: The party experiments with the Christian democratic CDU and the liberal FDP on the one hand, as well as with the social democratic SPD and the Left party on the other. This variety is somewhat surprising considering the history of the party, where questions of government participation often meant crucial tests. This study follows a micro-political perspective in inspecting intraparty processes about coalition decisions in regional branches of the German Greens. Which actors employ which strategies to succeed in intraparty coalition games and conflicts? Beyond the selected cases, this allows us to learn more about the party as a whole, as coalition decisions bring together questions of policy, organization, personnel, and strategy.