Die soziale Struktur der Abgeordneten des Deutschen Bundestages von 1987 bis 1998 : selektiv oder repräsentativ?

Abstract

One characteristic of modern democratic governmental systems are free votes in which the people chooses its representatives and for which all elective citizen can be nominated. These basic democratic principles allow a balanced representation of all interests of society. Whether these possibilities are utilised by all parts of the population, however, is questionable.Do the people appoint representatives of all parts of the population in elections? The elected members of the German Bundestag of four legislative periods (1987 to 1998) on the basis of the Bundestag compendium are being analysed and compared with the social structure to answer this question.The findings show that the social structure of elected members of the German Bundestag is neither representative for constituents nor for members of the parties. Although some changes during the last legislative period have been observed, most of the elected members of the German Bundestag are male, between 40 and 60 years old, hold a high standard of education and were employed in a very high position before entering the political vocation. Women as well as other age, educational or vocational groups are not represented adequately. Even if trade union affiliation is controlled for, the lower classes are not represented sufficiently.The findings are explained using a step-wise selection process. Both voter turnout, party membership as well as running for office depend highly on the position in society.The impossibility to overcome structural constraints can be seen by analysing the Green Party. In the 11th legislative period more than half of their members of the German Bundestag were younger than 40 years, only about 54 % came from the ruling class and about a third had not obtain any political capital. The Green Fraction therefore differed significantly from the traditional patterns. However, the social structure within the Green Members of the Bundestag changed in the following years. Considering social structural characteristics, the Greens can only be distinguished in one circumstance from the other four traditional parties in Germany:Due to gender quotation there are still more than 50 % of female members of the Bundestag within the Green party. In all other issues there has been an adaption process of the Greens.