Freie Wähler zwischen Partei und Wählergemeinschaft. Mitglieder, Identität und Organisation

Since the beginning of the Federal Republic, Free Voters have been a dominant actor in German local politics . Despite their importance on the local level, their membership structure, identity and organization have hardly been studied . Based on a representative survey their self-perception as a non-party, the socio-economic profile of their members and their organizational structure are empirically analysed . The findings show that their members view the continuing process of party-formation in a predominantly positive light, yet still hold a sceptical attitude towards established parties in parliament . While their socio-economic profile resembles that of members from other parties, the organizational structure of the Free Voters is quite different from that of established German parties with far less than half of the respondents being a formal member of the Free Voters . Their sceptical stand towards traditional party organization forms is therefore also expressed by a lower degree of formalization .