WHAT DRIVES ETHNIC PARTY MOBILISATION? Empirical Evidence from the Sorbs and Danish Minority in Germany

Abstract: The victory of the Südschleswigsche Wählerband (SSW) in the 2021 federal elections in Germany highlighted a striking gap in German politics – while some recognized national minorities are represented by an ethnic party in parliament, others are not. The aim of the thesis is to analyse this gap and understand why only some ethnic groups manage to successfully mobilise an ethnic party. To do so, I am conducting a qualitative comparative case study between the Danish minority, who has been represented by the SSW on the state level for over 60 years and now even on the federal level, and the Sorbs, who have never been represented by an ethnic party despite the existence of Sorbian ethnic parties throughout history. Specifically, I am testing Koev’s (2019) original theory, which assumes that the historical background (historical presence, territorial attachment, and history of dominance/autonomy) of a group influences the success of an ethnic party. I conduct a causal reconstruction analysis through which I am analysing the underlying social mechanisms that link the historical background of a group to the success of their ethnic party. Alternative theories derived from the literature are also tested for. I conclude that in the cases at hand, the history of dominance/autonomy exhibits the most significant difference between the two groups, while the existence of a kin-state of the Danish minority also plays an influential role. By creating a macro-micro-macro model with the variables, I can identify the micro-mechanisms that explain how this history led to the successful mobilisation of the SSW, which are missing in the case of the Sorbs.