After four years of the Grand Coalition, even Social Democratic voters believed that Ms. Merkel was capable of leading a social-liberal coalition together with the FDP. This is one political parallel with the government that succeeded the [first] Grand Coalition [under Kurt Georg Kiesinger] in the period from 1966 to 1969.
This strategy reflects the political wisdom of the chancellor, who has been able to present herself as the embodiment of the Grand Coalition – as a politician with a Social Democratic heart and a business-friendly mind.
Her tactics should not be disparaged or diminished. The Federal Republic owes much of its success after the Nazis’ reign of terror and after the peaceful revolution of 1989 to the respect that parties of all stripes have shown toward previous administrations. After a century in which domestic unrest and extremism transformed Germany into a source of war and barbarity, democratic domestication appears to have become deeply anchored in the national psyche.
In Grand Coalitions, people come to understand the lessons that Germany has learned from its experience of extremes.
The basically botched start of the supposed love match between the CDU/CSU and the FDP has made the Grand Coalition look all the more successful. The harmony between Steinmeier and Merkel during the election debate was memorable. When asked about his relationship with his boss, the likeable chancellor candidate sought to allay fears by saying: “No, we do not call each other by our first names.”
Peer Steinbrück was so enthusiastic about the cooperation that he expressed hope that the coalition would be continued – at which point he was reined in by his party. But the coalition is unlikely to return any time soon. After all, the SPD has not really been a large mainstream party for quite some time, and there are signs on the federal level that, if the FDP and the CDU/CSU cannot garner enough support, the country might very well see its first three-way alliance in government.
The surprise Jamaica coalition* in Saarland is a harbinger of things to come, and the SPD is preparing for a coalition with the Left Party and the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia. The taboo for which Ms. Ypsilanti was punished in Hesse has ceased to exist.**
* An alliance between the CDU, the FDP, and the Greens. Their traditional colors – black, yellow, and green – are the colors of the Jamaican flag – trans.
** In the 2008 Hessian state elections, Andrea Ypsilanti, SPD, had promised that she would never cooperate with the Left Party – trans.
Source: Ulf Poschardt, “Abschied von der heimlichen Liebe große Koalition,” [“Farewell to Our Secret Love, the Grand Coalition”], Die Welt, December 28, 2009.
Translation: Adam Blauhut
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