This past week Professor Yoder gave a fascinating speech on the politics and ideology behind Angela Merkel, the German chancellor\u2019s, leadership strategy. When Merkel assumed the German Chancellorship in 2005, many were curious about how she would fulfill the position and differ from previous chancellors.<\/p>\n
When she took office in 2005 many saw her as young, in comparison with previous leadership, and she was also from East Germany, unlike recent leadership. Due to her upbringing and recent mentors many assumed that she would continue with a more normal approach to leadership and fail to address issues of the past. However, she quickly established her stance on German politics to be one of open conversation by continuously bringing the past into the present. Although shocking at first, Merkel has led her center-right leaning party much more towards the center through her use of memory politics.<\/p>\n
Professor Yoder spent a great deal of her presentation discussing some of Merkel\u2019s most influential speeches. Although, not all of her public addresses have been transcribed and made available to the public, of the 58 that are, 67% of those ranging from 2005 to 2016 contained messages aimed at invoking German past. It is important to note that Germany\u2019s past is one that is painful for not only Germans but also for the world. The easy route would be to make no mention of the World Wars (one and two), the holocaust and Germany\u2019s communist past, but Merkel is determined to keep these memories alive, despite the pain that they induced.<\/p>\n
Although it may not be popular amongst all German parties, Merkel has continuously harped on the country\u2019s difficult past. It seems strange that she should continue to do this when so much of politics world-wide is based upon the popularity of a candidate amongst the people, but Merkel is unwavering in her moral obligation to create a culture of remembrance that will endure when survivors and people who experienced the tragedies of the World Wars and the Holocaust are no longer around. Her reasons for invoking the past are clear. Merkel sets out to remind not only Germany, but the world on a larger scale that we have to take responsibility for the past to ensure nothing of that nature will happen again. She aims to focus on humanitarianism as a response to the past, through her policies on refugees, and believes solidarity in historic responsibility to strengthen European democracy should take precedence over nationalism.<\/p>\n
One of the questions that was discussed at the end of the presentation addressed how Germany\u2019s difficult history is taught in early education in the country. I thought this was particularly interesting as the United States has failed to properly educate elementary school children on the history of North American civilization and how the country was founded. This issue is just now being rectified in the United States and proper education in school could be equally as important as politics for Germany moving forward, in order to preserve memories of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This past week Professor Yoder gave a fascinating speech on the politics and ideology behind Angela Merkel, the German chancellor\u2019s, leadership strategy. When Merkel assumed the German Chancellorship in 2005, many were curious about how she would fulfill the position and differ from previous chancellors. When she took office in 2005 many saw her as … <\/p>\n