1949~1969 기민련(Christliche Demokratische Union)의 선거 캠페인 분석

Abstract

This article analyzed the election campaign of the CDU(Christliche Demokratische Union), the conservative ruling party in Germany in the years between 1949 and 1969. We can find the consistencies in these election campaigns: the focus on the election campaign was the chancellor candidates; the influence of institutes of public opinion increased; the threat of the communism was a constant factor in the election campaign. Although it is virtually impossible to prove whether and to what extent the election results might be ascribed to the efficiency of the election campaign itself, it was also undeniable that CDU increasingly experience the fall in its approval rating since the election of 1957 in contrast to SPD, the opposition party which increased its approval rate consistently. The inflexibility of the election campaign might have been counted as a reason for that decline in the approval rating. First, the strategy to focus on the chancellor candidates was problematic in the sense that the candidates continued to maintain their status and power within the CDU without power shift. The unchanged melody of the threat of the communism did not reflect the changes in the international politics. Finally, the dependence on the external institutes of the public opinion rather than on the party itself weakened the basic functions of the party, that is to develop policies and devise new agenda. The breakthrough from this stalemate emerged only when CDU lost its political power and became an opposition party for the first time after its establishment.