Ten years ago, Silvio Horn set out to make an impact on politics in his hometown of Schwerin. Problems lingered in the former East German city, long after the fall of the wall, and Horn was out to find some quick solutions to the social ills he saw. Trained as a civil administrator, he decided to get involved with a political party in his mid-30s.

"I knew that if you really want to change things, you have to be part of one of the big German parties - that is, the Christian Democrats (CDU) or the Social Democrats (SDP)," Horn said of his decision that he would come to regret.

Silvio Horn said he was dismayed to discover how much parties adhere to the guidelines set by their leaders. In Horn's experience, going along with decisions from party conventions took precedence over the will of everyday citizens.

"It was all about power politics," Horn said, noting a couple of examples in Schwerin. The city had two public swimming facilities. The CDU wanted to support the local economy by tearing down and rebuilding one of the pools. Local building companies were to receive the contracts to do so. The SPD took a different tack, announcing in Berlin that they wanted to reduce debts across the country in order to use the saved money to promote education. Schwerin proved to be no exception, and the SPD argued the swimming pools should be closed completely.

However, Horn explains, the citizens wanted neither the expensive renovation nor the closure of the pools. Local organizers collected 14,000 signatures in favor of keeping the pools as they were.

A similar story played out when it came to a local park. The CDU wanted to use the space for a new residential area, while the SPD sought to discontinue park maintenance in order to save money. But local residents were in favor of preserving green spaces in Schwerin, a point on which Horn was in agreement. Nonetheless, he felt pressured to follow his party and found it difficult to negotiate the point with them.

Fleeing established parties

Silvio Horn said his philosophy is that politics should not get caught up in itself. Instead, it should focus on the citizens it is intended to serve.

"I wanted to hone in on concrete issues and not on theoretical questions about my party's standing," said Horn, now 44, who ultimately left the CDU. He founded an independent group with other frustrated citizens. In city elections, their faction proved popular.

Elsewhere in Germany, Frank Porten and Marion Mück-Raab had experiences similar to Horn's. In the rigid SPD and Green party politics, the two saw few solutions to the issues facing their community. In Mainz-Kostheim, they founded an association of citizens with no party affiliation who wanted to tackle environmental and transportation problems. Members say they are happy not to have to spend so much time thinking about party power struggles and overarching principles.

"We find quicker solutions to problems, and they stem not from what a party wants, but from what the citizens want," one member said.

And voters seem to be following suit. In local elections, party membership is playing less and less of a role. Nearly half (44 percent) of all full-time mayors are not members of a party. In April this year, independent mayors and municipal administrators will meet in Dresden for a two-day conference to exchange opinions and experiences. The goal of their networking event is to make politics more focused on citizens.

Distrust of party politics is on the rise, with more and more voters calling Germany's political heavyweights too ideological and difficult to read. In the 1970s, the CDU and the SPD, the two biggest parties in the country, had around a million members. Today they count about half as many.

That means fresh ideas and approaches are in order, which new collectives like the Pirate Party have made clear. Their support for a no-exceptions minimum wage, for free public transportation and for an Internet with no state influence struck a chord with young voters, particularly in Berlin. Following initial successes, they have organized groups throughout the country.

A need for reform

"There's something brewing out there, and we need to confront it!" said Andrea Nahles, Secretary General of the SPD.

Together with party head Sigmar Gabriel, Nahles began introducing reforms. They include a policy in which citizens who are not members of the SPD can vote on personnel affairs within the party. It's a new approach that has unleashed heavy discussion within the SPD, especially since the initiative should provide a basis for future efforts to draw citizens into other internal decisions.

Opponents say that citizens with small, private interests should not be able to shape the policies of an entire party from which they otherwise choose to abstain. But the SPD does seem in agreement that it's important to find ways to promote citizen participation.

"We want to become a party in which cooperation is fun," Andrea Nahles said.

The CDU is also introducing changes in many of its local chapters. The Christian Democrats have called upon residents with expert knowledge in a given area to share that knowledge with the CDU. Many independent citizens are happy to take advantage of the opportunity as a way to affect the political process without committing themselves to the party's general tenets. However, the CDU's federal leaders have thus far refrained from introducing reforms similar to those sought by the SPD.

CDU head and Chancellor Angela Merkel has set out to use the Internet to talk directly with citizens about the future of Germany, allowing them the chance to make suggestions on new laws. Last November, Merkel started a digital citizens' dialogue. Critics called it an unpopular exercise done for the sake of show rather than to bring about results.

Supporters saw the dialogue as a step in the right direction.

"The point has to be to make party politics more transparent. Decisions need to be explained better and in a more understandable way," Merkel said.

Both major parties are looking for ways to include citizens who want to shape public life even as they remain unaffiliated with a party.

Author: Wolfgang Dick / gsw
Editor: Joanna Impey