Baden-Württemberg under Green Leadership – Balance Sheet of Two Government Periods under Winfried Kretschmann Notes du Cerfa, No.159, Ifri, March 2021
Baden-Württemberg's economic and social structure offered good starting conditions for center-right parties from the beginning, which the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) initially knew how to use for itself. From 1953 to 2011 the Prime Minister belonged to the CDU. In 2011 the Greens and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) won an election over the CDU for the first time. Winfried Kretschmann was elected the first Green Prime Minister in a German state.
From 2011 to 2016 he ruled with the SPD in a green-red coalition, and since 2016 the Greens and CDU have formed a green-black coalition.
Right at the beginning of his reign, Kretschmann made a thorough change of style in the relationship between citizenship and politics with his “Politics of Being Heard” and the extensive expansion of citizen participation. In terms of economic policy, he kept the heavily export-oriented industrial country, which is characterized by vehicle and mechanical engineering, on the road to success and prepared it for the ecological structural change. The reform of the electoral law, the realignment of the integration and asylum policy begun under Green-Red, and the nationwide broadband expansion have only progressed gradually.
Personally, Kretschmann quickly gained a high reputation throughout the country, well beyond the green electorate. His pragmatic course of closely combining economy and ecology has the future competitiveness of Baden-Württemberg as a business location in mind and enjoys high approval throughout the state. The green-black coalition can certainly be seen as a model for federal politics.
Ulrich Eith studied political science, mathematics, and sociology, earned his doctorate and habilitation in political science. He is Professor of political science at the University of Freiburg since 2007 and is director of the Wiesneck House of Studies in Buchenbach since 2008 (Studienhaus Wiesneck, Institut für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg e.V.).
This publication is available the following languages (pdf):
- GERMAN: Baden-Württemberg unter grüner Führung – Bilanz zweier Regierungsperioden unter Winfried Kretschmann.