Difference between revisions of "Christian Democratic Union"

Revision as of 11:27, May 29, 2009

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands, CDU) is a political party in Germany.

History

The party was founded in post-war Germany by centrist and conservative Christian politicians who wanted to overcome the divisions among democratic Christians politicians in pre-war Germany, which was perceived as one of the reasons of the deadlock in politics during the Weimar Republic. Leading figures in the post-war era were Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard. Adenauer became the first Chancellor in West Germany, and who was seeking firm military and economic integration of West Germany with western Europe and the US. Ludwig Erhard was the first Minister of Economy, renowned for his advocacy and implementation of social market economy, and is considered the father of the German Wirtschaftswunder, the economic boom in the 50s and 60s. These two political concepts, social market economy and integration in the West, have become the two main ideological pillars of the Christian Democratic Union.

Party Structure

Regional Party Groups

The party has regional party groups, the federal group (Bundesverband, there is only one), the state group(s) (Landesverbände, singular: Landesverband), the county group(s) (Kreisverbände, singular: Kreisverband) and the local group(s) (Ortsverbände, singular: Ortsverband). All local groups in a county (Kreis or Landkreis) are part of the county group, all county groups in a german (federal) state (Land or Bundesland) are part of the state group and all state groups form the federal group.

Federal Leadership

The present chairwoman (of the federal party group) is German chancellor Angela Merkel, vice-chairman are Roland Koch (Minister-President of the federal state of Hesse), Jürgen Rüttgers (former Minister-President of state of North Rhine-Westphalia, now member of the German federal government), Annette Schavan (member of the German federal government) and Christian Wulff (Minister-President of the federal state of Lower Saxony). Ronald Pofalla

Miscellaneous

The federal party group holds a think tank called Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Konrad Adenauer Foundation), named after first chancellor of post-World War II Germany Konrad Adenauer. The state party groups have similar foundations.

There's a special relationship between the CDU and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). The CSU is legally a party of it's own, but cooperates closely with the CDU. The CSU only acts in the state of Bavaria and the CDU in the other states. The CSU is independent and has it's own political structure and party platform, which differs in some positions from the CDU's one, so that the CSU can be considered more conservative. The most prominent politician of the CSU was Franz-Josef Strauss.

The CDU has special organizations for demographic groups (youth, women, older/retired citizens, etc.).

Famous Party Members

• Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Helmut Kohl, former chancellor of Germany
• Angela Merkel, present chancellor of Germany, present chairwoman of the CDU

External Links

• Website of the CDU