Merkel On the Brink? Germany at a crossroad of domestic and foreign policy change

James D. Bindenagel

University of Bonn

James D. Bindenagel is a retired U.S. Ambassador, Henry-Kissinger-Professor (Emeritus) at Bonn University, and Senior Non-Resident Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He has published: Germany: From Peace to Power? Can Germany Lead in Europe without Dominating it? (2020) and International Sicherheit im 21. Jahrhundert, Deutschlands Verantwortung (2015), both published by V&R Bonn for Bonn University.

The domestic political disquiet over the refugees since the March 13 state elections in Germany has not subsided. On the contrary, the debate about German identity and the chancellor’s governance has grown more intense.

Chancellor Merkel has upset Germany’s European partners. They are wary of her curious mixture of profound ethics paired with determined self-assurance and high-handed decision making. It is increasingly hard to trust these decisions on faith alone.

In Europe, Merkel’s Germany is seen as a rising power that needs to be tied down. Her defense of German euro policy – “If the euro fails, Europe fails” – is echoed in the demand for all EU countries to accept refugees.  Continue reading at The Globalist.

Ambassador James D. Bindenagel is the Henry Kissinger Professor at the Center for International Security and Governance, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.