Why Germany is the west’s sanest country & More News Here

Thank God for Germany. That is not a sentiment that you simply heard a lot throughout the twentieth century. As the second world warfare drew to an in depth, Henry Morgenthau, the US Treasury secretary, argued that the solely reply to the German query was the destruction of the country’s industrial capability. François Mauriac, the French author, welcomed the division of the country, joking “I love Germany so much, I’m glad there are two of them”.

When reunification loomed in 1990, a gathering of mainly British intellectuals, convened by Margaret Thatcher, mentioned the German nationwide character. Her chief overseas coverage adviser wrote minutes suggesting these had been “in alphabetical order, angst, aggressiveness, assertiveness, bullying, egotism, inferiority complex, sentimentality”.

Thirty years on and these stereotypes about nationwide character have been fully reversed. It is the US and the UK the place politics appear more and more liable to “angst, aggressiveness” and all these different unattractive, supposedly Teutonic, qualities. These days, it is German public life that is characterised by the virtues the British usually attribute to themselves — calm, restraint, rationality and compromise.

The latest German election and its aftermath underline the level. It was an in depth contest, however the losers accepted the outcomes gracefully. Nobody tried to assert that the voting was rigged or that their opponents had been “scum” — or represented a mortal hazard to the country.

The Social Democrats now look set to steer a German authorities for the first time since 2005. But a transition of energy is not going to result in an abrupt rupture in insurance policies or an try by the political opposition to paralyse the authorities, as is taking place in the US.

The SPD’s Olaf Scholz, who might grow to be chancellor, ran as a continuity candidate. As my FT colleagues reported, voters noticed Scholz “with his quiet demeanour, long experience in government and pragmatic politics, as Merkel’s natural successor”. How very totally different from the management profiles of Donald Trump or Boris Johnson.

This reversal of roles is not merely considered one of the ironies of historical past. It is the product of historical past. Unlike another country that I do know of, Germany has positioned a memorial to its biggest nationwide shame proper at the coronary heart of its capital. The Holocaust memorial in Berlin stands close to the Brandenburg Gate, the conventional centre of the metropolis. It is an emblem of contemporary Germany’s dedication to acknowledge the horrors of Nazism — and to be taught the classes.

Because they know the place demagoguery can lead, mainstream German politicians are allergic to the cult of the chief. No candidate for chancellor would ever boast, as Trump did, that “I alone can fix it”, or encourage chants of “lock her up” about his opponent. In the latest election debates, the occasion leaders handled one another with an underlying respect and restraint. They know that politics is a critical enterprise. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s president, is mentioned to be significantly contemptuous of Johnson as a result of he thinks that the British prime minister treats politics as a recreation.

Modern Germany is not proof against the risks of political extremism. In 2020, a crowd of anti-vaxxers and diverse extremists tried, unsuccessfully, to storm the Reichstag. In the wake of the refugee disaster of 2015, when Merkel allowed over 1m migrants and refugees into the country, many observers, myself included, predicted a surge in political extremism in Germany. The ambiance in the 2017 election was usually ugly. The extreme-right Alternative for Germany occasion gained a big bloc of seats in parliament.

But in the most up-to-date election, the political extremes of proper and left each misplaced votes. The centre has not solely held in Germany, it has strengthened. The AfD is nonetheless sturdy in japanese Germany, nevertheless it is additional away than ever from nationwide energy.

One distinction between Germany and different giant western nations is that prime ranges of immigration haven’t radicalised the mainstream proper. Trump got here to energy on the again of a promise to construct the wall. Johnson gained the Brexit referendum on a pledge to “take back control” of Britain’s borders and legal guidelines — significantly borders. In France, Michel Barnier, who is campaigning for the centre-right’s nomination for the French presidency, has referred to as for a moratorium on all immigration from outdoors the EU. Éric Zemmour, the rising star of the far proper, threatens to throw 2m folks out of the country.

The German authorities, against this, continues to make the case for immigration. In August, the head of Germany’s federal labour company mentioned that the ageing of the country’s workforce implies that Germany must let in 400,000 new immigrants yearly — arguing that with out this degree of migration, “there will be a shortage of skilled workers everywhere”. Only the AfD condemned the concept outright.

The power of the centre floor in Germany doesn’t imply the extinction of debate. It might take months to kind a governing coalition. It can be exhausting to slender coverage variations between the Greens, the Free Democrats and the SPD. But the very have to construct a coalition militates towards the political polarisation — and demonisation of the opposition — that has grow to be customary in the Anglosphere.

In the twenty first century, German politics is as soon as once more distinctive. But this time for a great motive.

This article has been republished to appropriate the identify of the former Treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau

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Letters in response to this text:

Washington memorialises America’s biggest shame / From David C Speedie, Charlottesville, VA, US

Britain’s liberal political tradition places Germany in the shade / From Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government, King’s College, London, London WC2, UK

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