Most accounts of the political history of the early Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) focus on the rise of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Under the leadership of Konrad Adenauer, the CDU broke with the Catholic orientation of the old Center Party, opened itself up to a wider range of constituencies, adopted a position in favor of orientation toward the West in the Cold War, and stood behind what it called the social market economy, which combined free-market principles with a strong welfare state. The CDU became the first democratic populist party in the FRG, appealing to a broad cross-section of society. By 1957 the CDU had achieved an absolute majority in West German democratic politics for the first (and last) time.
Mark Spicka does not challenge this story. Rather, he connects it with another development: the rise of modern polling and advertising techniques in politics. He focuses in particular...