The Christian Social Union (CSU) has ruled Bavaria continuously for sixty years.
The CSU’s domination of the state’s political scene, together with its influence
on federal policies through its partnership with the CDU in the Bundestag, has
made the party one of the most effective groups in Europe. This was confirmed
in the election to Bavaria’s Landtag in October 2018, which the CSU has won once
again. At the same time, the party is being confronted by other conservative
groupings, mainly Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has a similar profile
to the CSU in several aspects. This, combined with the outflow of similarly
sized groups of voters to the AfD and to the Greens, as well as to Freie Wähler,
means the CSU is facing a new challenge that involves creating a comprehensive
political agenda without losing the party’s conservative identity.
The purpose of this report in to present the place the CSU occupies on the political
map of Germany and the importance of this grouping for Bavaria. It discusses
the changes happening both within the CSU and in Bavaria itself and the possible
scenarios for the development of the party and of the state. To study these
processes, the author has mainly used the methodology of observing political
developments and analysing documents published by the German government,
as well as Bavaria’s laws and documents compiled by the CSU. This has been
complemented by interviews with German experts.
The text is divided into four parts. The first part contains an analysis of the relations
between the CSU and the CDU and of the significance of the two parties’
joint parliamentary group, alongside the possible consequences of the group’s
unity being broken. The second part discusses the main elements of the CSU’s
political programme and the changes happening within the party itself and
among its voters, including in the context of the 2018 election to the Landtag.
The third part presents Bavaria’s foreign policy and the CSU’s impact on how
it is shaped. The final part discusses the main socio-economic challenges Bavaria
is currently facing and the CSU’s concepts of how to maintain the present pace
of the state’s development.
This report is not intended to present the situation of Bavaria and the CSU
as a whole, but rather aims to shed light on what the author considers the most
significant phenomena, processes and trends
