The Rise and Fall of the FDP

Introduction

This essay deals with the rise and fall of the German Free Democratic Party in since the Bundestag election of 2009. A special focus will be put on the FDP itself considering its political power according to the percentage points especially after the Landtag election 2010 in North-rhine-Westphalia. The Landtag election took place on May 9th, 2010 and the FDP came off badly compared to the Bundestag election men-tioned above. Guido Westerwelle, party leader of the FDP since 2001, hoped for "10 % plus X". This shows the transformation from a party being given governmental strength into a skeleton trying to capture the five-percent threshold. Another point of interest will be put on the chair-man of the FDP himself and to what extent he might be responsible for the decline of votes. As diversity is the main topic of this essay, I try to cover as many fields of diversity in relation to the FDP and the German politics in general as possible.