During a recent debate in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned against what he described as growing divisions within the country. “Even if we have different political ideas, one thing is clear: we live in one country,” he added. “We are better off if we stick together; if we can still look each other in the eye even after a dispute.”
Scholz’s appeal for unity may have appeared incongruous with his decision just a week earlier to dismiss Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the leader of the Free Democrats Party, which ultimately led to the collapse of Scholz’s ruling coalition government headed by his own Social Democratic Party. Following Lindner’s dismissal and the subsequent withdrawal of all Free Democrat ministers from the Cabinet, Scholz now heads Germany’s first minority government since 1982, in partnership with the Greens. He will face a confidence vote on Dec. 16—a formality that he will almost certainly lose—leading to new parliamentary elections expected to take place on Feb. 23.
How has German politics, long celebrated for its stability in the post-unification era, descended into such turmoil? Moreover, what does the collapse of the ruling Ampelkoalition—or traffic-light coalition, after the three parties’ respective colors—reveal about the broader state of German society at this pivotal moment?