Parties in Crisis

Germany's political landscape is in upheaval and parties struggle with major problems: Membership numbers are dropping, confidence in politicians is tarnished and voters are becoming wary of politics.

The established people's parties -- the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) -- as well as the smaller opposition parties, the Greens and the free-market liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) are struggling to define their future course. At the same time, they're observing the newly founded "The Left" party with suspicion. The latter is doing better than many expected.

Many people seem to think that classic political parties no longer represent them. Is the end of party democracy near? Click on the links below to find the answers DW-WORLD.DE collected from the various players.