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Full Description
This book examines the 2025 German Federal elections. On the 7th November, 2024, Chancellor Scholz dismissed his Finance Minister, thereby ending the first Federal government led by a three-party coalition. The Chancellor failed to secure sufficient support in a confidence vote and fresh elections were scheduled for February. This attracted significant scholarly and popular comment, much of which discusses them under the rubric of a 'crisis'. There is, however, precedent for governments collapsing and there are distinct parallels with the FDP exiting the government with the Social Democrats in 1982. The government also fell via a standard constitutional mechanism that has been used on five occasions by Chancellors. In our view, then, early elections do not amount to a crisis, real or impending, but are a symptom of broader stresses engulfing the German polity. Our volume argues that the election shows the degree to which the German polity is under stress. This combines strained international relations and changes to established military and security alliance structures with a polarised electorate and an increasingly fragmented space in which political parties compete. The book makes this argument by analysing the election in 27 chapters grouped into six parts. Part One consists of a single chapter introducing the volume. It draws parallels with the collapse of the SDP-FDP government in 1982, analysing the tensions within the 'Ampel' coalition, the shift in the political mood of voters and changing fortunes of the parties at Land elections. Parts Two through Five are prefaced with thematic introductions setting the scene for more detailed chapters. Part Two turns to the international context. A thematic introduction lays out how the international order is placing new demands on German foreign policy and generating domestic contestation about Germany's role in global affairs. Chapters then follow on Germany's international relations with the United States, Russia, China, the EU, and Israel. Part Three focuses on domestic issues, with a thematic introduction setting out the areas of salience followed by separate chapters on security, the economy, the welfare state, climate change, industry, and immigration. Part Four examines the parties, with a thematic introduction setting out the changing party landscape, followed by chapters on the Union, the SPD, the FDP, the Greens, The Left Party, BSW and the AfD. Part Five turns to the contest itself. A thematic introduction examines the effectiveness of the party strategies, laying the ground for chapters about the debates, voting behaviour and coalition formation. Part Six consists of a single chapter concluding the volume. This volume will appeal to undergraduate and graduate researchers, along with scholars of German, European and comparative politics.
Contents
Chapter 1: The 2025 German Federal Election: A Polity Under Stress.- Chapter 2: Thematic Introduction: German Foreign and Security Policy in the 2025 General Elections: The Domestic Politics of the 'Zeitenwende'.- Chapter 3: 1460 Days: German-U.S. Relations in the Second Trump Presidency.- Chapter 4: Russian and Ukrainian Relations with Germany.- Chapter 5: Israeli-German Relations.- Chapter 6: EU-German Relations and the 2025 Federal Election: An Indispensable Member?.- Chapter 7: Thematic Introduction: Issue Saliency in the 2025 German Federal Election.- Chapter 8: Immigration: Party Positions and Voter Perceptions.- Chapter 9: The Economy.- Chapter 10: Climate Change in the 2025 Bundestag Election.- Chapter 11: Social Policy and the 2025 Federal Election.- Chapter 12: Security and the 2025 Federal Elections.- Chapter 13: Taking the Helm? State Traditions and Industrial Policy Debates in the 2025 Bundestag Elections.- Chapter 14: Thematic Introduction: The Party System.- Chapter 15: The Christian Democratic Union/ Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the 2025 Federal Election: The Unsteady Return.- Chapter 16: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the 2025 Federal Election: Radicalised, Resilient, and Regionally Entrenched.- Chapter 17: The Social Democratic Party and the 2025 federal election.- Chapter 18: Alliance 90/The Greens and the 2025 Federal Election: The End of the Habeck/Baerbock Era.- Chapter 19: The Left Party and the 2025 Federal Election: Back from the Dead.- Chapter 20: The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the 2025 Federal Election: So Near, Yet So Far.- Chapter 21: The Free Democratic Party and the 2025 Federal Election: From 'voice of progress' to just another right-wing party.- Chapter 22: Thematic Introduction: Debates, Voters and Coalitions.- Chapter 23: Beyond the Duell: The Chancellor Debates and the 2025 Election.- Chapter 24: Fluid Loyalties and Hard Decisions: Democratic Satisfaction, Candidates, Party Identification and Consideration Sets in the 2025 Federal Election.- Chapter 25: The Grand Coalition: Last Chance Saloon for the 'Catch-all' Parties?.- Chapter 26: Conclusions: The German Federal Election 2025.
