Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary German Politics and Policy

Eric Langenbacher is a Teaching Professor and Director of the Honors Program in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. Since July 2019, he is also a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Society, Culture and Politics Program at the American-German Institute in Washington, DC. Recent publications include The German Polity, 12th ed. (Lanham, 2021), Twilight of the Merkel Era: Power and Politics in Germany after the 2017 Bundestag Election (Berghahn Books, 2019) and Dynamics of Memory and Identity in Contemporary Europe (Berghahn Books, 2015). He is also Managing Editor of German Politics and Society, which is housed in Georgetown’s BMW Center for German and European Studies.

Introduction: A Zeitenwende Indeed

Eric Langenbacher



Chapter 1. From the Eternal Grand Coalition to the Traffic Light Alliance: The Development of the German Party System Before and After the 2021 Federal Election

Frank Decker and Philipp Adorf



Chapter 2. Pathways to the Chancellorship: The Making of Chancellor Scholz in Perspective

Ludger Helms



Chapter 3. Continuing Formalization of Coalition Formation with a New “Sound:” Negotiating the Coalition Contract after the 2021 Bundestag Election

Sven T. Siefken



Chapter 4. The Quest for Gender Parity: Angela Merkel and the Diversification of Electoral Politics in Germany

Joyce Marie Mushaben



Chapter 5. What do (Parties Think) Women and LGBTI Citizens Want? Party Platforms, Gender, and Sexuality in the 2021 German National Election

Louise K. Davidson-Schmich



Chapter 6. KanzlerwahlvereinNo More? Failed Internal Coalition-making and the CDU/CSU’s 2021 Campaign

Matthias Dilling



Chapter 7. From Zero to Hero: The Rise of Olaf Scholz and the SPD

Ed Turner, Davide Vampa, and Matthias Scantamburlo



Chapter 8. Not a Single Digit Party Anymore: The Central Role of Alliance 90/The Greens in a Changed Party System

Niko Switek



Chapter 9. Catalysts for Change: Small Parties in the 2021 Bundestag Election

David Patton



Chapter 10. The Party Without Qualities? Explaining the Left Party’s Electoral Disaster in the 2021 German Federal Election

Jonathan Olsen and Michael A. Hansen



Chapter 11. Setting a Trend? Support for the Greens and the FDP in the 2021 Bundestag Election

Andreas Wüst



Chapter 12. A Tale of Two Electorates? The 2021 Federal Election and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Voter in East and West

Michael A. Hansen and Jonathan Olsen



Chapter 13. The Pandemic Factor: The Covid-19 Crisis in the Alternative for Germany’s 2021 Federal Election Campaign

Lars Rensmann and Thijs de Zee



Chapter 14. The Shifting Role of Climate Change in the 2021 Bundestag Election

Carol Hager



Chapter 15. Reordering German Liberalism: Reexamining the Social Market Economy in the 2021 Bundestag Election

Mark Vail



Chapter 16. The Enduring Effect of Immigration Attitudes on Vote Choice: Evidence from the 2021 German Federal Election

Hannah M. Alarian



Chapter 17. The Ampel Coalition’s Foreign Policy Challenges

Jack Janes



Chapter 18. China and Russia Policy in the Election and Beyond

Stephen F. Szabo



Chapter 19. Inertia and Reactiveness in Germany’s Russia Policy: From the 2021 Federal Elections to the Invasion of Ukraine in 2022

Jonas J. Driedger