Germany's future electors - Developments of the German electorate in times of demographic change

Nora E. Sánchez Gassen analyses how demographic trends and electoral law have influenced the German electorate in the past and projects their future impact. A set of population projections illustrates how the size and age structure of the electorate will change until 2030 due to ongoing demographic changes. Additional analyses reveal how reforms of electoral law and citizenship law could be used to influence these trends. Overall, the author combines demographic methods with democratic theory in order to investigate a topic that has so far received little attention in discussions on demographic change: the future of the democratic system.

Nora E. Sánchez Gassen is a Research Fellow at the ESRC Research Centre for Population Change of the University of Southampton (UK).