A Guide to German Elections
AGI Project
AGI Experts Preview Merkel’s Visit to Washington
Securing a Transatlantic Legacy Jeff Rathke, President Chancellor Merkel makes her last official visit to Washington just weeks before the September 26 Bundestag election will punctuate her path-breaking career as …

What Happens in Magdeburg Does not Stay in Magdeburg
Saxony-Anhalt’s 2021 Landtag Election In the weeks preceding Sunday’s elections for the Landtag in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, there was a rising sense of dread that the right-populist Alternative …
Episode 42: A New Direction for Germany?
The German federal election campaign is heating up after Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) finally chose Armin Laschet as the bloc’s …

With the Chancellor Candidates Selected, the Election Campaign Heats Up
Postwar German politics has been characterized by long periods of stability associated with dominant chancellors (Adenauer, Kohl, Merkel, Brandt/Schmidt) followed by a shorter period of upheaval and transition (Erhard/Kiesinger, Schröder), …
Episode 40: National Bellwethers for the German Federal Election?
The March 14 elections for state legislatures in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate kicked off an electoral marathon that will culminate in the September 26 German federal election, the …
Episode 39: Revitalizing Transatlantic Power
President Joe Biden has made rebuilding the transatlantic partnership a focus of his administration after four years of frosty relations between Europe and the United States. One of the most …

Germany’s Memory Culture and the Alternative for Germany
Issue Brief 62 For decades, the dominant narrative about the evolution of collective memory in the Federal Republic of Germany has been that after several decades of silence, evasion, and …
Episode 38: Lessons for Dealing with Right-Wing Extremism in the United States and Germany
Right-wing extremism has been on the rise around the world. The January 6, 2021 insurrection that attached the U.S. capital and the August 2020 protest in Berlin which breached the …

The 2021 Bundestag Election Year
One of the most consequential German elections in memory will take place on September 26, 2021, when a new Bundestag, a new coalition government, and a new chancellor will be …

On the Passing of a German Generation
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my “Nazi aunt” (actually a great aunt) as I called her. Born a century ago in 1920 in northern Bavaria, Leni was a …

The 2020 U.S. Elections: Initial Reactions
With the 2020 U.S. presidential election now called for Joe Biden, the world has witnessed the inner strength of a democratic system: the ability to self-correct, alter course, and peacefully …