Karlsruhe theses of freedom

Cover sheet for the resolution of the federal party conference of the FDP in Karlsruhe on April 22, 2012

The Karlsruhe theses of freedom , actually the program of the Free Democratic Party “Responsibility for freedom. Karlsruhe theses of freedom of the FDP for an open civil society " , are the current basic program of the FDP . They were passed as a resolution of the 63rd Ordinary FDP Federal Party Congress in Karlsruhe on April 22, 2012. The freedom theses replaced the 1997 “ Wiesbaden principles ”.

background

The turning point and peaceful revolution in the GDR in 1989/90 also led to the reformulation of the FDP party program; in 1997 the Wiesbaden principles were adopted .

From 2009 to 2013, the FDP was part of the black-yellow coalition in the federal government, but had suffered heavy losses in state elections until the 2013 federal election. After the record values of the FDP with Guido Westerwelle as the top candidate in the Bundestag election in 2009 with 14.6%, the approval fell to below 10% in early 2010. With 4.8%, the FDP then failed for the first time since 1949 in the federal elections in 2013 and left parliament. The FDP was only represented in nine state parliaments and only in Saxony in the government. As a consequence, the then federal party executive of the FDP resigned.

Emergence

In May 2009, the 60th Ordinary FDP federal party conference decided to develop a new basic program “in the continuation of the Wiesbaden principles” and to adopt this at the 2012 federal party conference. For this purpose, the FDP federal executive set up a principle commission, which began its work in July 2010. They included Christian Ahrendt , Lasse Becker , Nicola Beer , Barbara Bludau , Sebastian Blumenthal , Ludwig Georg Braun , Andreas Büttner , Jorgo Chatzimarkakis , Patrick Döring (chairman from December 14, 2011), Wolfgang Gerhardt , Miriam Gruß , Walter Hirche , Burkhard Hirsch , Elke Hoff , Lydia Hüskens , Michael Kauch , Pascal Kober , Christian Lindner (Chairman and member until December 14, 2011), Michael Link , Horst Meierhofer , Gerhard Papke , Alexander Pokorny , Christiane Ratjen-Damerau , Joachim Stamp , Michael Theurer , Florian Toncar , Johannes Vogel , Carl Christian von Weizsäcker (until December 21, 2011), Volker Wissing , Holger Zastrow and Martin Zeil . The work of this policy committee, the program forums and party divisions involved in the preparation were supported by the staff of the Political Planning, Program and Analysis department of the FDP federal office in the Thomas Dehler House under the direction of Christopher Gohl .

content

The programmatic ideas of the FDP are presented on 112 pages and in four chapters. In the introduction the “liberal responsibility for the driving force of freedom” is discussed. This is followed by a chapter on “the freedom of the individual [as] the basis and limit of liberal politics”, the demand in the second part “to strengthen Germany's liberalism” and a section on “the freedom we mean”. The fourth and largest main chapter, divided into six sections, deals with the "Opportunities for free people - order for an open civil society ".

Program since 2013

The Stuttgart Declaration was published in 2013 on “rebuilding the party” . She contrasted a state-fixated policy with the FDP model of a modern, ecologically responsible social market economy with an active civil society. The Berlin manifesto “More Chances through More Freedom: Projects for a Republic of Chances” from 2015 was another milestone in the programmatic party restructuring on the way to the 2017 federal election .

Party logo 2001-2014
Party logo since 2014

Web links

Wiktionary: Manifesto - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ “Responsibility for Freedom - Karlsruhe Theses of Freedom for an Open Civil Society” (.pdf).
^ Program of the Free Democratic Party “Wiesbaden Principles. For the liberal civil society ” (.pdf).
↑ ARD Germany trend from February 2010 .
↑ FDP basic program 2012. Resolution of the 60th Ord. Federal Party Congress of the FDP, Hanover, 15. – 17. May 2009.
↑ The basic program debate “Chances for tomorrow”. In: Annual Report of the FDP 2009–2011. FDP federal office, Berlin 2011, p. 43 f.
↑ Stuttgart Declaration. Decision of the FDP parliamentary group chairman conference, Stuttgart, October 2, 2013.
↑ FDP wants to focus more on social issues in the future. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . October 2, 2013, accessed September 23, 2016 .
↑ More opportunities through more freedom: Projects for a republic of opportunities. Decision of the 66th Ord. Federal Party Congress of the FDP, Berlin, May 16, 2015.

[KF2012-1] “Responsibility for Freedom - Karlsruhe Theses of Freedom for an Open Civil Society” (.pdf).

[WG1997-2] Program of the Free Democratic Party “Wiesbaden Principles. For the liberal civil society ” (.pdf).

[3] ARD Germany trend from February 2010 .

[4] FDP basic program 2012. Resolution of the 60th Ord. Federal Party Congress of the FDP, Hanover, 15. – 17. May 2009.

[5] The basic program debate “Chances for tomorrow”. In: Annual Report of the FDP 2009–2011. FDP federal office, Berlin 2011, p. 43 f.

[6] Stuttgart Declaration. Decision of the FDP parliamentary group chairman conference, Stuttgart, October 2, 2013.

[7] FDP wants to focus more on social issues in the future. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . October 2, 2013, accessed September 23, 2016 .

[8] More opportunities through more freedom: Projects for a republic of opportunities. Decision of the 66th Ord. Federal Party Congress of the FDP, Berlin, May 16, 2015.