{"id":1116,"date":"2021-04-16T01:44:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T01:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/?p=1116"},"modified":"2024-06-10T01:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T01:46:03","slug":"dropping-the-pilot-assessing-angela-merkels-chancellorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/2021\/04\/16\/dropping-the-pilot-assessing-angela-merkels-chancellorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Dropping the Pilot? Assessing Angela Merkel\u2019s Chancellorship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\"college
\nCenter for Policy Studies
\nPublic Affairs Discussion Group<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Dropping the Pilot? Assessing Angela Merkel\u2019s Chancellorship<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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\"Jolly<\/p>\n

Kenneth F. Ledford, Ph.D. – Chair, Department of History<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
Friday April 16, 2021
\n12:30-1:30 p.m.
\nOnline Zoom Meeting<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n

<\/span>In March of 1890, the young Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany forced Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to resign his post. Bismarck had guided the expansion of Prussia to create a unified German state as Prussian Prime Minister from 1862 on and had served as German Chancellor since 1870. In a<\/span>\u00a0famous cartoon<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Punch<\/em>, Bismarck\u2019s dismissal was described as \u201cdropping the pilot\u201d who had been guiding the ship of state. Although it took quite a while for the ship to spectacularly run aground through the Kaiser\u2019s more aggressive foreign policies, Bismarck\u2019s dismissal is viewed as an example of the risks of losing a long-serving, steady hand on the tiller of the state.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to Angela Merkel. She has served as Chancellor since November of 2005, through a remarkable series of challenges such as the financial crash, the<\/span>\u00a0refugee surge of 2015-16<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0the associated rise of right-wing extremism, tensions within the European Union, more aggressive policies from Russia, and the Trump administration. In 2018 she announced that she would not seek a fifth term as Chancellor after the 2021 General Election, which will be held on September 26. Ever since, the question of who will succeed Merkel, and with what consequences, has loomed large in both German and European politics.<\/p>\n

Her Christian Democratic party (CDU) has certainly had trouble replacing her. When Merkel announced she would not continue as Chancellor after 2021, she also stepped down as party leader. But Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, her successor chosen in December of 2018, announced in 2020 that she would resign as leader, and so<\/span>\u00a0Armin Laschet<\/span><\/a>, chosen in January, will lead the CDU into September\u2019s election. Both the 2018 and 2021 leadership elections showed that the CDU is closely divided between a faction that want to maintain Merkel\u2019s more \u201ccentrist\u201d policies and a faction that wants to move right in order to capture votes from the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, nationalist<\/span>\u00a0Alternative for Germany<\/span><\/a>\u00a0party. Last month\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0state elections<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate showed that the CDU may be vulnerable to the same forces that have weakened the long-time postwar center-right and center-left parties in other countries, such as France and Italy.<\/p>\n

As we wait to see what comes after Merkel, it seems a good time, as Ken Ledford says, to \u201cdraw a balance\u201d on her tenure in office \u2013 both to understand her leadership and consider the prospects going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Signing In<\/h3>\n

This semester’s discussions will begin at 12:30 p.m., the usual time. The meeting will be set up as from Noon to 2:00 p.m., so people are not all signing in at the same time and to allow for the discussion to run a bit long.\u00a0Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion.<\/strong>\u00a0Every Monday the same information will be posted on our website:<\/span>\u00a0fridaylunch.case.edu<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. This week’s link for registration is:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/cwru.zoom.us\/meeting\/register\/tJwtde6sqTkiG9X3SAo_p01dOABijSr7lRXj<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.<\/p>\n

Please e-mail<\/span>\u00a0padg@case.edu<\/span><\/a>\u00a0if you have questions about how the Zoom version of the Friday Lunch will work or any other suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the<\/span>\u00a0Siegal Lifelong Learning Program<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to share information about the discussions.<\/p>\n

Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,<\/p>\n

Joe White
\nLuxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

About Our Guest<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kenneth Ledford<\/strong>\u00a0is a social historian of modern Germany, from 1789 to the present. His research interests focus primarily upon processes of class formation, particularly the emergence and decline of the profound influence of the educated, liberal middle-class of education, the Bildungsb\u00fcrgertum. The salient ideology of this social group was classical liberalism, whose vocabulary both shaped and was shaped by the primary social institution of the B\u00fcrgertum, law and the legal order. Professor Ledford has written about German lawyers in private practice, and his present work is on a book about the Prussian judiciary between 1848 and 1918; in all of his research, a clearer analysis of the complex interplay among state, civil society, and the ideology of the state ruled by law (Rechtsstaat) remains the goal. Professor Ledford’s teaching interests extend beyond German history since 1789 to include the history of the European middle classes, the history of the professions, European legal history, other processes of class formation including German and European labor history, as well as the history of European international relations and diplomatic history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 23: Depression\u2019s Past and Future.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Jonathan Sadowsky, Ph.D.<\/strong>, Theodore J. Castele Professor of History.<\/p>\n

April 30: The Republican Party and Demographic Change.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Girma Parris, Ph.D.<\/strong>, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science.<\/p>\n

May 7: Defending Disability Insurance.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Kathy Ruffing<\/strong>, former Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Visit the\u00a0Public Affairs Discussion Group Web Site.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Center for Policy Studies | Mather House 111 | 11201 Euclid Avenue |
\nCleveland, Ohio 44106-7109 |\u00a0Phone: 216.368.6730 |\u00a0padg@case.edu<\/u><\/span><\/a>\u00a0|
\nPart of the:\u00a0College of Arts and Sciences<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2021 Case Western Reserve University |
\nCleveland, Ohio 44106 | 216.368.2000 |\u00a0legal notice<\/u><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Center for Policy Studies
\nPublic Affairs Discussion Group<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dropping the Pilot? Assessing Angela Merkel\u2019s Chancellorship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kenneth F. Ledford, Ph.D. – Chair, Department of History<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friday April 16, 2021
\n12:30-1:30 p.m.
\nOnline Zoom Meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n

In March of 1890, the young Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany forced Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to resign his post. Bismarck had guided the expansion of Prussia to create a unified German state as Prussian Prime Minister from 1862 on and had served as German Chancellor since 1870.<\/p>\n

Continue reading… Dropping the Pilot? Assessing Angela Merkel\u2019s Chancellorship<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1117,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions\/1117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}