Germany's Modern Angst
Like many wealthy Western countries, Germany seems to be caught in a constant state of unease, despite all it has going for it. For that reason, the post-Merkel era is as likely to bring disruption as it is to preserve continuity with the recent past.
Armin Nassehi, Unbehagen: Theorie der überforderten Gesellschaft (Discomfort: Theory of the Overwhelmed Society), C.H. Beck, 2021.
Andreas Reckwitz and Hartmut Rosa, Spätmoderne in der Krise: Was leistet die Gesellschaftstheorie? (Late Modernity in Crisis: What Does Social Theory Achieve?), Suhrkamp, 2021.
Wolfgang Streeck, Zwischen Globalismus und Demokratie: Politische Ökonomie im ausgehenden Neoliberalismus (Between Globalism and Democracy: Political Economy in the Waning of Neoliberalism), Suhrkamp, 2021.
BERLIN – Germany’s new coalition government – its first in 16 years without Angela Merkel as chancellor – is its first ever comprising the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Free Democrats. Given Germany’s status as the European Union’s largest member country (economically and demographically), this changing of the guard has understandably spurred global interest in the state of German politics and the country’s economy.