Mrs Merkel was giving a speech.
The chancellor was interrupted
by anti-immigrant protesters
but ignored them and plodded
on. Ms Hensel was dismayed.
“One, two, three sentences
would have done the job,” she
wrote. “You are so powerful and
you were standing on a large
stage. Everyone was waiting for
you to say something.”
That crowd exemplifies the
new Germans: more plural,
more confrontational, more di-
vided. And just as Mrs Merkel
should have taken on the heck-
lers in Finsterwalde, she and her
political successors should “Just
Do Politics At Last!”, the title of a
book by Christian Ude, a former
mayor of Munich, published
last year. Mrs Merkel’s calm
style was broadly right for the
period of settling Germany in
after the reforms of the early
2000s, but it would be wrong
for the next phase. As the Mün-
klers write: “The greater the eth-
nic and religious variety of a
society, the more it needs a guid-
ing narrative.” They imagine
Germany’s more open future as
one of “permanent negotiation”. The meaning of being German,
the difference between thesustainable and the unsustainable
parts of the country’s economic model, the hard work needed to
heal divides in society, the new expectations of Germany on the
international stage—all this requires explanation and argument.
The early signs are encouraging. The new coalition deal at
least calls for “enlivening public debates, making differences
open and thus strengthening democra-
cy”. After theSPD’s long internal battle
over whether to join the coalition, the
party feels a greater need to differentiate
itself. Struggles within Mrs Merkel’sCDU
about its future are just beginning. And
the arrival of the AfDin the Bundestag
has forced mainstream politicians to take
on its ideas. Mr Bröning thinks it is “good
for democracy” for those who feel left out
to be represented.
In February Cem Özdemir, the out-
going leader of the Greens, addressed an
electrifying speech at the AfD’sMPsto
cheers in the Bundestag: “You despise
everything for which this country is re-
spected throughout the world.” What
made him proud to be German, he went
on to say, was the country’s diversity and
its culture of remembrance. The son of
Turkish guest workers was sketching out a
whole new vision of Germany: multieth-
nic, sensitive to its past and confident
about its future. The battle to which he
was challenging the right-wingers will de-
fine Germany’s next historical cycle. 712 The EconomistApril 14th 2018
SPECIAL REPORT
GERMANYOffer to readers
Reprints of this special report are available.
A minimum order of five copies is required.
Please contact: Jill Kaletha at Foster
Printing Tel: +1 866 879 9144 Ext: 168
e-mail: [email protected]
Corporate offer
Corporate orders of 100 copies or more are
available. We also offer a customisation
service. Please contact us to discuss your
requirements.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7576 8148
e-mail: [email protected]
For more information on how to order special
reports, reprints or any copyright queries
you may have, please contact:
The Rights and Syndication Department
20 Cabot Square
London E14 4QW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7576 8148
Fax: +44 (0)20 7576 8492
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.economist.com/rights
Future special reportsPrevious special reports and a list of
forthcoming ones can be found online:
economist.com/specialreportsUniversal health careApril 2 8 th
International bankingMay 5th
China in the worldMay 19th
TQ: Technology and justiceJune 2nd2 and overwhelmingly poor immigrants.
But perhaps Germany has been spoilt. In recent years it has
enjoyed “relatively low oil prices, low interest rates, a relatively
moderate exchange rate”, notes Dieter Kempf, who heads the As-
sociation of German Industry (BDI). The country’s baby-boom-
ers are only now starting to retire. New competitors such as Chi-
na are not yet as good as Germany at making high-value items
like luxury cars. “Germany has had it too good,” jokes Clemens
Fuest, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research.
And it may not be doing enough to prepare for a rougher fu-
ture. One example is its slow and unreliable internet.Ranked by
average speed, the country dropped to 42nd place in the world
last year, partly because it failed to invest enough, partly because
of a tangle of red tape at federal, state and local level. And even
where high-speed internet is available, the cautious Germans are
slow to take it up, just as they are slow to take up other techno-
logical innovations, ranging from credit cards to social media.
Another example is the service sector, which is ludicrously
over-regulated. A prohibition on chains of chemists’ shops has
roots in guild laws dating from the Middle Ages. And the coun-
try’s infrastructure, though impressive, is deteriorating, partly
thanks to a short-sighted debt brake limiting spending. Regional
newspapers are full of stories about leaky school roofs, creaky
bridges and potholed roads. The armed forces are threadbare.
Tackling such challenges in the next phase of Germany post-war
history will require more dynamism than the soothing Mrs Mer-
kel has provided.Make a noise
That starts with politics. For the past four years, when the
opposition has consisted of only two small parties, political dia-
logue has been almost inaudible. “There was no recent debate on
the opening up of society; that needs to happen now,” says Mi-
chael Bröning of the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, pointing to Mrs
Merkel’s pro-immigration policies and the broader relaxation of
social norms. An open letter published byDie Zeit,aweekly,
caught the mood of last summer’s over-quiet election campaign.
In it Jana Hensel, a writer, described taking her son to an election
rally in Finsterwalde, a depressedtown in the formereast, whereThe new
Germans
are more
plural, more
confron-
tational,
more
divided