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angela merkel
November 2009 
The Mystery of Ms Merkel
Posted on Jun 30th, 2009
by 
Albert
Albert
The Economist is once again weighing the quality of German Poltical Leadership. This time in the person of chancellor Angela Merkel. These observations are basically true miss however the understanding of the German mystery itself.
Points 1 and 4 of Economist analysis refer to inside realties.
1.Cautious by temperament" isnt bad in the light of german history. However its bad perception in case of Angela Merkel. She has had a bold way to the corridors of power. And shown qualties pirates ususally have. She isnt just as emotional and extraverted as others. Protestant education seems to be barrier per se:) Maybe a look to US Wasps could give more clarity.
4. Mood of the country: Germany is build on consensus only for superficial observers. In fact deep conflict and tensions are to be found in deeper layers of consciousness. Old ideological contrasts as much as clashs between inner identities and outer roles.An unpleasant relationship to its own national identity.
And a collective memory culture to much in the shadow of Post WW 2 history.
Instead re-conecting the roots to great 250 years of postive change, progress and thriving in many areas.
3. The great coalition: Well, this constellation only mirrors some of the roadblocks towards innovative thinking and expanded and evolutionary. perspectives . The total potential of Germany Genius is splitted in the landscape of poltical groups. And even not really represented there. The group of people are have turned their back to politics is growing.
Unlike the Netherlands, Denmark or parts of the Nordic Region the connectivity between innovative networks and initiatives is underdeveloped. There is a great potential collective power in the country. A possible We space which can create eruptions and powerful shifts. However it needs a construction plan or a design.
This "masterplan" isnt the job of the Chancellor. Its the job for the creative elite and fresh perspectives for innovative, even globally oriented leadership in Germany.
Thats at the core of the German mystery. Thanks Economist for labeling the right word at the right time:):)
Germany's inscrutable chancellor
The mystery of Ms Merkel
Jun 25th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Europe’s canniest politician needs to be bolder about reform if she is to be seen as an historic chancellor
Reuters
SHE is the first female leader of Germany and the first since the war tohail from the east. She has had the job for three-and-a-half years andlooks likely to keep it after the federal election in September. Yet as Angela Merkel prepared to meet Barack Obama in Washington this week, acertain mystery still hung over her. Who is she and where might shetake her country?
Mrs Merkel’s character is best summed up by what she is not. Unlike other Europeanleaders, she is neither charismatic, nor flashily intellectual, nordomineering. Yet nobody could deny that she is a highly effectivepolitician. She has swatted aside all challengers inside her ChristianDemocratic Union (CDU), despite coming from outside the party’straditional base. She has grabbed any credit going for her “grandcoalition” with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), leaving her SPD rival for the chancellorship floundering. She won kudos for her presidencies of the European Union and the G8 club of rich countries in2007. Were she to express interest in the job of EU president that willbe created if the EU’s Lisbon treaty is ratified this autumn, it would be given to her on a plate.
Above all,Mrs Merkel has stayed popular—more consistently so than any chancellor since Konrad Adenauer. And she has accomplished this in the teeth ofGermany’s worst recession since the war. GDP shrank by 7% in the yearto the first quarter. Industrial production has fallen by over a fifth.Unemployment has been masked by job subsidies and make-work schemes,but it is likely to climb back above 4m next year. That Mrs Merkel isstill favourite to win re-election as chancellor, whether in anothergrand coalition or with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), is atribute to her political skill.
But is she a reformer?
The questionis not whether Mrs Merkel will keep power, but whether she is ready touse it. She has an unusual background for a CDU leader: daughter of aProtestant pastor, raised in communist East Germany, she was a physicist before turning to politics (see article).That ought to bode well in a party that is fonder of consensus than of radical change. She seems intellectually to accept the case for greater liberalisation, smaller government and freer markets. But she has shrunk from more substantial reform, for four reasons.
First, she is cautious by temperament. The opposite of France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, sheis more of a methodical scientist than a mercurial revolutionary. Those who once hoped that she might be a Thatcherite reformer, a Maggie fromMecklenburg, were always going to be disappointed. Moreover, her instinctive caution was reinforced by a second factor: her experience in the 2005 election campaign. When her then economic adviser started talking of big tax cuts and radical welfare reforms, her support dropped sharply—and even after she dumped him and tacked back to the centre, she almost lost.
That led to the third and most obvious reason why Mrs Merkel has been unable to be radical: her narrow victory forced her into a grand coalition. Such an alliance operates by the lowest common denominator. Mrs Merkel has held it together, but at the cost of putting off serious talk of most further reforms to the labour market, the welfare state, health-carefinancing and a hugely complex tax system. The only substantive measure her government has adopted is a rise in the retirement age. Her SPD partners have even managed to roll back some of the Agenda 2010 reforms they made when they were previously in coalition with the Greens in2003-04.
That also reflects a fourth explanation for Mrs Merkel’s lack of reformist zeal,which is the mood of her country. Germany is a place built onconsensus—in the workplace, in society and in politics. It is also successful. It is still (just) the world’s biggest exporter; thanks to impressive discipline over wages, its companies have regained competitiveness; and its public finances are in better shape than most.The angst of a decade ago, when it seemed that Germany might be the new sick man of Europe, has largely gone. Instead, the global economic crash is seen in Germany as something that came entirely from outside because of Anglo-Saxon free-market zealots—and that has not made Germans any keener on further liberalisation.
Yet all this betrays a dangerous complacency. Even if the economic crisis was not made in Germany, it has changed the world: Germany will suffer unlessit responds. The old reliance on manufacturing exports looks broken.Consumers, chary of spending, are hobbling domestic demand. Services,the backbone of all modern economies, are underdeveloped. Germany suffers from deeper weakness too. The demographic outlook is grim,threatening Germany’s public finances. Education, once the envy of theworld, is now mediocre—especially when it comes to universities, wherethe government is only just starting on reform (see article).
Admittedly,many other European countries have even bigger immediate problems thanGermany. But the truth is that all of Europe needs reform: to shiftaway from high taxes, generous and wasteful welfare states, and, mostof all, overly regulated and inflexible product and labour markets. If Mrs Merkel’s Germany were to lead the way, it would be not justEurope’s biggest economy but also its intellectual leader.
Smarter than Nicolas (let alone Silvio); but not Konrad
By that exalted measure, the CDU programme that Mrs Merkel will launch this weekend is likely to be disappointing. It will offer little more than promises of continuity, bolstered by the appeal of Mrs Merkel herself.That may be enough to win her re-election—Germans seem content withsomeone to reassure rather than inspire them. Yet Mrs Merkel ought tothink about why she wants to be chancellor at all. If she does not setout plans for health-care reform, for more liberalisation of labour andproduct markets, for privatisation and for tax and spending cuts, shewill have little chance of getting these through in office, whateverthe make-up of her coalition.
Mrs Merkel will go down in history as Germany’s first female leader—no mean feat.But if she wants to measure up to Adenauer or Helmut Kohl, she mustpersuade Germans of the case for change. And for that she needs to be far bolder.
Points 1 and 4 of Economist analysis refer to inside realties.
1.Cautious by temperament" isnt bad in the light of german history. However its bad perception in case of Angela Merkel. She has had a bold way to the corridors of power. And shown qualties pirates ususally have. She isnt just as emotional and extraverted as others. Protestant education seems to be barrier per se:) Maybe a look to US Wasps could give more clarity.
4. Mood of the country: Germany is build on consensus only for superficial observers. In fact deep conflict and tensions are to be found in deeper layers of consciousness. Old ideological contrasts as much as clashs between inner identities and outer roles.An unpleasant relationship to its own national identity.
And a collective memory culture to much in the shadow of Post WW 2 history.
Instead re-conecting the roots to great 250 years of postive change, progress and thriving in many areas.
3. The great coalition: Well, this constellation only mirrors some of the roadblocks towards innovative thinking and expanded and evolutionary. perspectives . The total potential of Germany Genius is splitted in the landscape of poltical groups. And even not really represented there. The group of people are have turned their back to politics is growing.
Unlike the Netherlands, Denmark or parts of the Nordic Region the connectivity between innovative networks and initiatives is underdeveloped. There is a great potential collective power in the country. A possible We space which can create eruptions and powerful shifts. However it needs a construction plan or a design.
This "masterplan" isnt the job of the Chancellor. Its the job for the creative elite and fresh perspectives for innovative, even globally oriented leadership in Germany.
Thats at the core of the German mystery. Thanks Economist for labeling the right word at the right time:):)
Germany's inscrutable chancellor
The mystery of Ms Merkel
Jun 25th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Europe’s canniest politician needs to be bolder about reform if she is to be seen as an historic chancellor
Reuters
SHE is the first female leader of Germany and the first since the war tohail from the east. She has had the job for three-and-a-half years andlooks likely to keep it after the federal election in September. Yet as Angela Merkel prepared to meet Barack Obama in Washington this week, acertain mystery still hung over her. Who is she and where might shetake her country?
Mrs Merkel’s character is best summed up by what she is not. Unlike other Europeanleaders, she is neither charismatic, nor flashily intellectual, nordomineering. Yet nobody could deny that she is a highly effectivepolitician. She has swatted aside all challengers inside her ChristianDemocratic Union (CDU), despite coming from outside the party’straditional base. She has grabbed any credit going for her “grandcoalition” with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), leaving her SPD rival for the chancellorship floundering. She won kudos for her presidencies of the European Union and the G8 club of rich countries in2007. Were she to express interest in the job of EU president that willbe created if the EU’s Lisbon treaty is ratified this autumn, it would be given to her on a plate.
Above all,Mrs Merkel has stayed popular—more consistently so than any chancellor since Konrad Adenauer. And she has accomplished this in the teeth ofGermany’s worst recession since the war. GDP shrank by 7% in the yearto the first quarter. Industrial production has fallen by over a fifth.Unemployment has been masked by job subsidies and make-work schemes,but it is likely to climb back above 4m next year. That Mrs Merkel isstill favourite to win re-election as chancellor, whether in anothergrand coalition or with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), is atribute to her political skill.
But is she a reformer?
The questionis not whether Mrs Merkel will keep power, but whether she is ready touse it. She has an unusual background for a CDU leader: daughter of aProtestant pastor, raised in communist East Germany, she was a physicist before turning to politics (see article).That ought to bode well in a party that is fonder of consensus than of radical change. She seems intellectually to accept the case for greater liberalisation, smaller government and freer markets. But she has shrunk from more substantial reform, for four reasons.
First, she is cautious by temperament. The opposite of France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, sheis more of a methodical scientist than a mercurial revolutionary. Those who once hoped that she might be a Thatcherite reformer, a Maggie fromMecklenburg, were always going to be disappointed. Moreover, her instinctive caution was reinforced by a second factor: her experience in the 2005 election campaign. When her then economic adviser started talking of big tax cuts and radical welfare reforms, her support dropped sharply—and even after she dumped him and tacked back to the centre, she almost lost.
That led to the third and most obvious reason why Mrs Merkel has been unable to be radical: her narrow victory forced her into a grand coalition. Such an alliance operates by the lowest common denominator. Mrs Merkel has held it together, but at the cost of putting off serious talk of most further reforms to the labour market, the welfare state, health-carefinancing and a hugely complex tax system. The only substantive measure her government has adopted is a rise in the retirement age. Her SPD partners have even managed to roll back some of the Agenda 2010 reforms they made when they were previously in coalition with the Greens in2003-04.
That also reflects a fourth explanation for Mrs Merkel’s lack of reformist zeal,which is the mood of her country. Germany is a place built onconsensus—in the workplace, in society and in politics. It is also successful. It is still (just) the world’s biggest exporter; thanks to impressive discipline over wages, its companies have regained competitiveness; and its public finances are in better shape than most.The angst of a decade ago, when it seemed that Germany might be the new sick man of Europe, has largely gone. Instead, the global economic crash is seen in Germany as something that came entirely from outside because of Anglo-Saxon free-market zealots—and that has not made Germans any keener on further liberalisation.
Yet all this betrays a dangerous complacency. Even if the economic crisis was not made in Germany, it has changed the world: Germany will suffer unlessit responds. The old reliance on manufacturing exports looks broken.Consumers, chary of spending, are hobbling domestic demand. Services,the backbone of all modern economies, are underdeveloped. Germany suffers from deeper weakness too. The demographic outlook is grim,threatening Germany’s public finances. Education, once the envy of theworld, is now mediocre—especially when it comes to universities, wherethe government is only just starting on reform (see article).
Admittedly,many other European countries have even bigger immediate problems thanGermany. But the truth is that all of Europe needs reform: to shiftaway from high taxes, generous and wasteful welfare states, and, mostof all, overly regulated and inflexible product and labour markets. If Mrs Merkel’s Germany were to lead the way, it would be not justEurope’s biggest economy but also its intellectual leader.
Smarter than Nicolas (let alone Silvio); but not Konrad
By that exalted measure, the CDU programme that Mrs Merkel will launch this weekend is likely to be disappointing. It will offer little more than promises of continuity, bolstered by the appeal of Mrs Merkel herself.That may be enough to win her re-election—Germans seem content withsomeone to reassure rather than inspire them. Yet Mrs Merkel ought tothink about why she wants to be chancellor at all. If she does not setout plans for health-care reform, for more liberalisation of labour andproduct markets, for privatisation and for tax and spending cuts, shewill have little chance of getting these through in office, whateverthe make-up of her coalition.
Mrs Merkel will go down in history as Germany’s first female leader—no mean feat.But if she wants to measure up to Adenauer or Helmut Kohl, she mustpersuade Germans of the case for change. And for that she needs to be far bolder.
Access: Public
Check also 2 more links. The lack of understanding in vertical shifts and collective identity building is obvious and instructive:
Germany Is Failing As A Leading European Power?!
Posted on Dec 23rd, 2008 by Albert
As is good use in Germany:):some days before Christmas German polticians are creating some attention in media with hard statements. Profiling something new. 1999 it was chancellor Angela Merkel who then wrote an article -… More »
Leadership, Crisis Management, Perspectives in Germany and Europe
Posted on Dec 3rd, 2008 by Albert
SPIEGEl ONLINE..as usual with sharpest instincts and detective-like awareness for global problems and dilemmata:):) - shoots some harsh criticism towards Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Federal Republic Of Germany,. And I want to present it here…. More »