@article{2018:walther:freie_wh,
title = {Freie Wähler zwischen Partei und Wählergemeinschaft. Mitglieder, Identität und Organisation},
year = {2018},
note = {Since the beginning of the Federal Republic, Free Voters have been a
dominant actor in German local politics . Despite their importance on
the local level, their membership structure, identity and organization
have hardly been studied . Based on a representative survey their
self-perception as a non-party, the socio-economic profile of their
members and their organizational structure are empirically analysed .
The findings show that their members view the continuing process of
party-formation in a predominantly positive light, yet still hold a
sceptical attitude towards established parties in parliament . While
their socio-economic profile resembles that of members from other
parties, the organizational structure of the Free Voters is quite
different from that of established German parties with far less than
half of the respondents being a formal member of the Free Voters .
Their sceptical stand towards traditional party organization forms is
therefore also expressed by a lower degree of formalization .},
journal = {ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen},
pages = {325--345},
author = {Walther, Jens and Angenendt, Michael},
volume = {49},
number = {2}
}