Towards an Analytical Framework for Party Mergers: Operationalising the Cases of the German Left Party and the Dutch Green Left

The theoretical literature on party mergers is thin. This article draws upon organisational behaviour research to create an analytical framework that is suitable for explaining the processes inherent in party mergers. The authors operationalise this framework by examining two cases of party merger: in Germany, between the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG) in 2006/07, and in the Netherlands, between four small parties to form Groenlinks (Green Left) in 1989-91. They conclude that the two cases demonstrate definable steps and processes that are inherent to mergers, and they welcome further applications of this framework in other settings.