With or Without Youth? The Influence of Party Youth Organisations on Candidate Selection Processes in Germany

Since the 1980s German political youth organizations have to cope with a “dramatic” decline of membership. Therefore, scholars assume that nowadays young activists have lost their impact on decision-making processes inside the parties. In contrast and referring to ‘classic’ studies on factionalism and intraparty power relations this paper argues that intraparty influence is not only dependent on the number of members. Additionally, it assumes that the selection of candidates for public offices is a core terrain of intraparty struggle among party factions. In doing so, the paper compares the influence on candidate selection processes in terms of resources and strategies of the youth sections of the two largest German parties, the Young Socialists and the Christian Democratic Young Union in the general election 2013 in Germany. These first empirical findings are based on the analysis of party statutes, election lists and interviews.