Promise – Expectation – Reality: The political compromise (Original German title: Versprechen – Erwartung– Realität: Der politische Kompromiss) by Universität der Künste Berlin

When election promises are not kept, this is met with incomprehension in our society. Behind political decisions often stand compromises, which are necessary to generate majorities. They form the core of our democracy. In Germany, however, a large part of the population perceives political compromises as a betrayal.

In order to create understanding for the process of compromise and to convey the democratic principle in an accessible way, a concept for a traveling exhibition was developed. Step by step, it answers core questions about the principle of political compromise. The basis and framework is the research of the dissertation "Political Parties as Agents of Deliberative Representation" by Dr. Pola Lehmann. The data collected within this stuzdy visualizes the changes in the positions of parties in the German parlament (Bundestag) from 1990 to 2013. In order to illustrate the individual and concrete dimensions of political compromises, the developments of two example debates are also presented: The negotiation of asylum policy in the 1990s and the decision to phase out the use of nuclear energy. The exhibition is intended to encourage visitors* to self-reflect and self-position themselves as they engage with the topic. The overall goal is to make a contribution against skepticism about democracy and disenchantment with politics.

This project is the master's project by Mario Kreuzer and Miriam Seith in the field of Visual Communication at the UdK Berlin and was developed within the framework of the Visual Society Program in cooperation with the Berlin Social Science Center and the political scientist Dr. Pola Lehmann.