Rol van die Vrye Demokratiese Party (FDP) in die politieke geskiedenis van die Federale Republiek van Duitsland na 1945

M.A.Although the Free Democratic Party's (FDP) best performance at the polls was 12,8% of the votes in 1961, the party has played a far more significant role in postwar German politics than its electoral strength would suggest. Due to its participation as junior partner in coalitions with the Christian Democratic Union (1949-1956, 1961- 966) and the Social Democratic Party (1969 to present), the FOP has been represented in the Federal German Government longer than either the CDU or SPD. As it is exceptional for a single party to gain an overall majority in German politics, the two major parties are dependent on the FDP, as the only other party represented in the Bundestag, for the formation of a coalition government. Thus, in a certain sense, the FDP "determines" which of the major parties is to form the government. The purpose of this study is to analyse the development of the FDP from 1945 to the present, whilst emphasizing variations in the party's political role. To provide a sufficient background, the development of German liberalism from the nineteenth century up to 1945 has also been taken into consideration. The German liberal movement has, since Bismarckian times, been divided into two rival sections, namely "national liberalism" (right wing) and "progressive liberalism" (left wing). After the Second World War it seemed that for the first time in nearly a century both wings were to be united in one political structure namely the FDP. It seemed as if the rapid decline of' Liberalism since the turn of the century had at last been checked, factionalism eliminated and greater unity achieved. Factional rivalries, however, reappeared and caused serious strains on the FDP's internal unity and political efficiency. Basically it was a struggle to achieve an exact position for the FDP in the political spectrum: right of the CDU by uniting all nationalistic forces or as a middle party between the CDU and SPD. The first alternative ruled out the possibility of a coalition with the SPD, while the second kept..