Germany's Gathering Crisis

The German Elections of September 2005 marked a defining moment in post-unification German politics. It signalled the end of Chancellor Schroder's Social Democrat (SPD)-led government (a year before the end of its term) and a narrow election victory of Germany's first ever female Chancellor, Angela Merkel (CDU). Ultimately, a Grand Coalition made up of the two main parties -- the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) -- took office for only the second time in the history of the Federal Republic. Gerhard Schroder presented his decision to engineer new elections as a reaction to a particular crisis -- the absence of a majority within Germany to push through reforms. This book deals with the gathering crisis during the Red-Green government (1998-2005) and the government's efforts to impose a reform agenda upon the country, the impact of the 2005 federal elections on the German political landscape, and provides an evaluation of the success of the Grand Coalition in meeting these challenges since 2005.