Atlas / Organisations / CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU
Union · 1945– · Germany · Christian Democratic · Electoral party · coding confidence high
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
Social market economy, fiscal discipline, Atlantic and European commitment, Christian moral inheritance.
Economic model
Balanced budgets, competition policy, retained universal insurance systems, business-friendly taxation.
Organisation of powers
Federalism, constitutional court, coalition government as the norm.
Reading note
A standing counter-example to the claim that generous social insurance is a left-wing marker.
Check a claim about CDU/CSU. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored +04
Coded +4: fiscal restraint with retained universal insurance systems.
- Documented act or statuteThe constitutional debt brake was legislated in 2009 under a CDU chancellor.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +04
Coded +4: Christian moral inheritance with substantial liberalisation in office.
- Documented act or statuteConscription was suspended and nuclear power phased out under CDU governments; same-sex marriage passed against most of its MPs.
AU · Organisation of power · scored −04
Coded −4: federalism, constitutional court and coalition as invariable practice.
- Documented act or statuteHas never governed without a coalition partner at federal level.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +02
Coded +2: German federalism plus deep European commitment.
- Programme textConsistently supports European integration while defending Länder competences in education.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +03
Coded +3: civic membership with a restrictive recent posture.
- Documented act or statuteOpened the 2015 asylum admission under its own chancellor and campaigned in 2025 on tighter border control.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −08
Coded −8: the most incremental method of any large European party.
- Documented act or statuteGoverns by coalition as an invariable rule and has never sought constitutional rupture.
Where it came from, and what came after
- is a continuation ofPostwar Christian Democracy
Continuous since 1945.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Botswana Democratic Party1.4
- Postwar Christian Democracy2.0
- Ghanaian Party Blocs2.2
- Mauritian Democracy2.6
- Mongolian Democracy2.6
- Fianna Fáil3.0
Countries
Cite this page
Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.