Coordination democracy

Coordination democracy describes a form of the German system of government (as opposed to chancellor democracy ) in which the head of government's ability to organize majorities and consensus at different levels of action in the system of government is necessary for successful, effective governance or strong political leadership. The Federal Chancellor must be assured of intra-party approval, parliamentary support and extensive willingness to cooperate on the part of the coalition partner. The Chancellorships of Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl , despite the very different personalities of the heads of government, are considered exemplary of a coordination democracy , while the second and third Chancellorships of Angela Merkel are coming closer to the chancellor democracy.

Whether the juxtaposition of chancellor and coordination democracy has greater explanatory value is of course controversial, since it is only a question of phase-wise dominance of one or the other form.

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• Wolfgang Jäger, From the Chancellor Democracy to Coordination Democracy , in: Zeitschrift für Politik, (1988) 1, pp. 15–32
• Herbert Dittgen, Paradoxes of Political Power - Political Decisions in Presidential and Chancellor Democracy , in: Representation politics or decision-making politics ? On the Change of Political Styles in Western Democracies, ed. v. Karl-Rudolf Korte / Gerhard Hirscher, Munich 2000, pp. 193–212