Rarely have German elections been covered so intensely both nationally and internationally and for good reason. International media outlets have been pondering the end of the era Merkel and what might follow. German voters have been in the thralls of polls, trends, and TV-Trielle  (three-way duels on TV) which discussed issues such the Covid-19 crisis, migration, digitalization, corruption, and prime among them, the climate crisis in three national TV debates. The election results with the SPD winning by a narrow margin have led to the ongoing negotiations for a three-party government coalition between the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, and the Freie Demokratische Partei, the so-called Ampel-Koalition/traffic light coalition (named after the parties’ colors). 

To to help us understand the election and its outcomes, two distinguished political scientists and Berlin Program Alumni will share their analyses. In a brief survey, David Patton will provide and explain election results. Carol Hager will examine the role of the salient election topic, climate change. Read our 2021 Election Special…  

Carol Hager is Professor of Environmental Studies & Political Science at Bryn Mawr College in  Pennsylvania, USA  and Berlin Program Fellow 1992/93. She has published widely on German energy politics, including co-editing Germany’s Energy Transition: A Comparative Perspective (with Christoph Stefes, Palgrave Macmillan 2016).  She was a Berlin Program Postdoctoral Fellow in 1992/93, and she has served on the program committee of the Berlin Program Summer Workshop since 2016. 

David F. Patton is Joanne Toor Cummings '50 Professor of Government and International Relations at Connecticut College, USA and Berlin Program Fellow 1989/90. David teaches classes on European politics and has published books and articles on German party politics, unification and German foreign policy. His publications include ‘Party-Political Responses  to the Alternative for Germany in Comparative  Perspective,’ Out of the East: From PDS to Left  Party in Unified Germany and Cold War Politics in  Postwar Germany.