Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Funding Away Political Parties' Reliance on Civil Society? A Study on Party Cartelization in Germany

Sjöström, Pontus LU (2023) STVK05 20231
Department of Political Science
Abstract
In the 1990s Katz and Mair started to theorize about the development of a new party model across Western European democracies; the cartel party. Studies dating back to the theoretical emergence of the cartel party in the 1970s support that parties across Western Europe have become increasingly financially dependent on the state, while diverging from civil society. In this paper it is tested with quantitative measures on income from public subsidies, membership fees and party membership if the German parliament parties show indications of cartel parties. The results support that income from state funding has increased both in percentage of total income and in total euros paid out. A closer look however reveals that this development was... (More)
In the 1990s Katz and Mair started to theorize about the development of a new party model across Western European democracies; the cartel party. Studies dating back to the theoretical emergence of the cartel party in the 1970s support that parties across Western Europe have become increasingly financially dependent on the state, while diverging from civil society. In this paper it is tested with quantitative measures on income from public subsidies, membership fees and party membership if the German parliament parties show indications of cartel parties. The results support that income from state funding has increased both in percentage of total income and in total euros paid out. A closer look however reveals that this development was orchestrated by the SPD and CDU/CSU. Simultaneously predominantly the large parties keep losing their footing in society, indicated by decreasing membership numbers; despite these findings membership fees are still an important source of income. The exception is the newly established AfD, which has low numbers in membership fees and a high percentual dependency on state funding. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Sjöström, Pontus LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK05 20231
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Party financing, party-state cohesion, Germany, cartel party theory, cartelization
language
English
id
9134115
date added to LUP
2025-06-04 11:07:41
date last changed
2025-06-04 11:07:41
@misc{9134115,
  abstract     = {{In the 1990s Katz and Mair started to theorize about the development of a new party model across Western European democracies; the cartel party. Studies dating back to the theoretical emergence of the cartel party in the 1970s support that parties across Western Europe have become increasingly financially dependent on the state, while diverging from civil society. In this paper it is tested with quantitative measures on income from public subsidies, membership fees and party membership if the German parliament parties show indications of cartel parties. The results support that income from state funding has increased both in percentage of total income and in total euros paid out. A closer look however reveals that this development was orchestrated by the SPD and CDU/CSU. Simultaneously predominantly the large parties keep losing their footing in society, indicated by decreasing membership numbers; despite these findings membership fees are still an important source of income. The exception is the newly established AfD, which has low numbers in membership fees and a high percentual dependency on state funding.}},
  author       = {{Sjöström, Pontus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Funding Away Political Parties' Reliance on Civil Society? A Study on Party Cartelization in Germany}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}