Social–liberal coalition () in the

politics of Germany Germany is a democratic and federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the (the parliament of Germany) and the (the representative body of the , Germany's regional states). The federal system has, sinc ...

refers to a governmental coalition formed by the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). From 1969 to 1982 social–liberal coalitions led by Federal Chancellors

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

and Helmut Schmidt governed the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

. The term stems from

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

of the SPD and the

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

of the FDP. Because of the colours traditionally used to symbolise the two parties (red for SPD and yellow for FDP), such a coalition is also referred to as a "red–yellow" coalition (''rot–gelbe Koalition''). The FDP is basically an economic/classical liberal party, but under the coalition, the FDP and the SPD are close to left-liberalism (''Linksliberalismus''). Social–liberal coalitions are currently rare, as the SPD usually governs with the Alliance '90/The Greens and the FDP orients itself towards long-term co-operation with the Christian Democratic Union and Bavarian Christian Social Union. However, a social–liberal coalition ruled from 1991 to 2006 in the German

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and would have continued to do so, had the SPD not won an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

. Social–liberal coalitions have previously been in power in many other federal states of Germany as well. The

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

is a combination of the social–liberal coalition and the red–green coalition insofar as it includes the Social Democratic Party, the FDP and the greens, which are the constituent elements of the other two coalitions. The

Weimar Coalition The Weimar Coalition () is the name given to the coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the German Democratic Party (DDP) and the Catholic Centre Party (Z), who together had a large majority of the delegates ...

was a similar constellation of parties as it included the Social Democratic Party as well as a left-liberal party (the then

German Democratic Party The German Democratic Party (, DDP) was a liberal political party in the Weimar Republic, considered centrist or centre-left. Along with the right-liberal German People's Party (, DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 19 ...

one of the predecessors of the FDP) and the

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

/ conservative-liberal element also present in the FDP with the

Zentrumspartei The Centre Party (, Z), officially the German Centre Party (, DZP) and also known in English as the Catholic Centre Party, is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic political party in Germany. It was most influential in the German Empire a ...

. However, the

political Catholicism The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. The Catholic Church's views and teachings have evolved over its history and have at times been significant political influences ...

espoused by the Zentrum is absent in the postwar social–liberal coalition.

Social–liberal coalitions at the federal state level

''After the term, the leader of the government is given''.

Berlin

* 1963–66

(despite having an absolute majority) * 1966–67 Heinrich Albertz (despite having an absolute majority) * 1967–71 Klaus Schütz (despite having an absolute majority) * 1975–77 Klaus Schütz * 1977–81 Dietrich Stobbe * 1981 Hans-Jochen Vogel

Bremen

* 1959–65 Wilhelm Kaisen * 1967–71 Hans Koschnick

Hamburg

* 1957–61 Max Brauer * 1961–65 Paul Nevermann * 1965–66 Herbert Weichmann * 1970–71 Herbert Weichmann * 1971–74 Peter Schulz * 1974–78 Hans-Ulrich Klose * 1987–88 Klaus von Dohnanyi * 1988–91 Henning Voscherau

Hesse

* 1970–76 Albert Osswald * 1976–82 Holger Börner

Lower Saxony

* 1963–65 Georg Diederichs * 1974–76 Alfred Kubel

North Rhine-Westphalia

* 1956–58 Fritz Steinhoff * 1966–78 Heinz Kühn * 1978–80 Johannes Rau

Rhineland-Palatinate

* 1991–94 Rudolf Scharping * 1994–2006 Kurt Beck

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Social-liberal coalition * Social liberalism Social Democratic Party of Germany Free Democratic Party (Germany) Political terminology in Germany German governing coalitions