Red in bed with yellow and green
The many colours of German coalitions
From “Jamaica” to “traffic light”, via “Kenya”
A
SSEMBLING COALITIONS in Germany was once a simple affair. Power alternated between the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (
CDU, with its Bavarian ally, the
CSU) and the Social Democrats (
SPD), with the liberal Free Democrats (
FDP) or Greens in support. Colourful names occasionally emerged for other governing arrangements: “Jamaica” for coalitions uniting the
CDU, Greens and
FDP—the parties’ colours match the island’s flag—or “traffic light” for the
SPD, FDP and Greens. For years these exotic amalgams mainly fuelled the fever dreams of political scientists. More recently, political fragmentation and Germany’s federal system, in which 16 states churn through their own governments, have made them flesh.