Cohesion and communication in political parties

The dissertation project examines communication processes between established subgroups within parties at the federal level. These include long-standing groups such as youth organizations, parliamentary groups like the Seeheimer Kreis in the SPD, and extra-parliamentary groups such as the Christian Democratic Employees’ Association in the CDU. While they may hold different substantive positions, they are all part of the same party, raising the question of how agreements and party-wide positions are negotiated. The project focuses on both digital and analog forms of communication in intraparty democracy. Through a content analysis of motions debated at federal party conferences and an interview study on the use of digital communication tools in preparation for these conferences, the project provides an overview of subgroups within major German parties and investigates how communicative processes overcome substantive differences.