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Germany's Troubling Election

6 commentaries

The success of the far right and the end of Germany’s grand coalition government have introduced new uncertainties into the politics of Europe’s most powerful country. What are the main implications for Germany, the EU, and global affairs?

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  1. The Chimera of Franco-German Reform
    Jean-Claude Juncker delivers his State of the Union speech at the European Parliament Patrick Herzog/Getty Images

    The Chimera of Franco-German Reform

    Oct 4, 2017 Hans-Helmut Kotz warns the European Union's would-be reformers not to count on the support of Germany's next government.

  2. A Test for Europe’s German Anchor
    Angela Merkel takes her place on the government bench Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    A Test for Europe’s German Anchor

    Sep 26, 2017 Daniela Schwarzer notes that while the center held in Germany's federal election, the policy consensus is weakening.

  3. Europe’s Battle on Four Fronts
    Britain Brexit protest Justin Tallis/Getty Images

    Europe’s Battle on Four Fronts

    Sep 26, 2017 Anatole Kaletsky believes that the EU's survival requires simultaneous breakthroughs in Berlin, Brussels, London, and Paris.

  4. Germany’s Grave New World
    Angela Merkel Odd Andersen/Getty Images

    Germany’s Grave New World

    Sep 26, 2017 Joschka Fischer says the fate of Europe's most stable democracy and largest economy now hangs in the balance.

  5. Germany’s Weimar Ghosts
    A protestor holds a banner translating 'AFD Is Not An Alternative' Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

    Germany’s Weimar Ghosts

    Sep 25, 2017 Harold James argues that a stable European order may be the Federal Republic's strongest democratic bulwark in the coming years.

  6. Germany’s Economic Road Ahead
    A voter casts his ballot in early voting in German federal elections Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    Germany’s Economic Road Ahead

    Sep 25, 2017 Clemens Fuest highlights five major policy challenges that the new government will face in the coming years.

  1. james210_KAY NIETFELDPOOLAFP via Getty Images_scholzxi Kay Nietfeld/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Is “Peace Through Commerce” Dead?

    Harold James doubts that new conflicts and rivalries justify a full-scale rejection of European-style economic engagement.
  2. khrushcheva171_MIKHAIL METZELPOOLAFP via Getty Images_putinkim Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    Putin and Kim’s Cartoon Summit

    Nina L. Khrushcheva thinks that Russia's recent meeting with North Korea was intended primarily as a warning to the South.
  3. haykel18_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_mbs Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    Saudi Arabia’s New Nationalism

    Bernard Haykel explains the reasoning behind the Kingdom's ongoing domestic- and foreign-policy transformation.
  4. wagner22_Lukas SchulzeGetty Images_pollution Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

    The Green Growth Mindset

    Gernot Wagner sees doctrinaire debates about capitalism as irrelevant or even deleterious to the decarbonization effort.
  5. mallochbrown17_GIANLUIGI GUERCIAAFP via Getty Images_africawomenpolitics Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images

    Africa Is the Future of Multilateralism

    Mark Malloch-Brown explains why the continent should be at the forefront of efforts to bring about international reforms.
  6. op_yi2_PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_chinahousing Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

    A Chinese Bubble Long in the Making

    Yi Fuxian

    The Chinese government is very good at covering up small problems, but these often pile up into much bigger ones that can no longer be ignored. The current real-estate bubble is a case in point, casting serious doubts not just on the wisdom of past policies but also on China's long-term economic future.

    traces the long roots of the country's mounting economic and financial problems.
  7. bp industrial policy Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Industrial Policy Is Back

    From semiconductors to electric vehicles, governments are identifying the strategic industries of the future and intervening to support them – abandoning decades of neoliberal orthodoxy in the process. Are industrial policies the key to tackling twenty-first-century economic challenges or a recipe for market distortions and lower efficiency?

  8. fischer208_DrAfter123Getty Images_AIhuman DrAfter123/Getty Images

    Is AI a Master or Slave?

    Joschka Fischer wonders whether humanity can even hope to maintain control in an era of “mega-crisis.”
  9. haldar25_BettmannGetty Images_friedmanreagan Bettmann/Getty Images

    Laying Chicago Economics to Rest

    Antara Haldar

    From breakthroughs in behavioral economics to mounting evidence in the real world, there is good reason to think that the economic orthodoxy of the past 50 years now has one foot in the grave. The question is whether the mainstream economics profession has gotten the memo.

    looks back on 50 years of neoclassical economic orthodoxy and the damage it has wrought.

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