Another perspective on the new German government

I normally blog about international events over at my other site, but the German "Grand Coalition" which has been announced but not consummated as yet, is a sort of centrist government, although not by choice. I've been concerned that such a "shotgun wedding" would lead to a government that could not function, or at least "would not", in that they would not be willing to cooperate with one another. I find that more informed observers than I (which would be just about anyone...) have the same idea.

Timothy Garton Ash, writing in the Guardian, likes the look of Angela Merkel, who is expected to become Germany's first female chancellor, but is not convinced this coalition will work.

The good news is Angie. The bad news is her government. Unfortunately, the bad is likely to subvert the good. Even if this lady chancellor is made of iron, a messy, unstable coalition will ensure that her feet are stuck in clay. All Europe will keep limping as a result.

Ash also hints that the German voters might actually be looking for "more consensus, less action" from their government. Not all Germans seem stuck in neutral, however:

Those who are more optimistic than I am about Germany's capacity for change point to what is happening already among the young and in business. Now it's true that one meets a lot of impressive, highly educated young Germans, able to tell you, in fluent English or French, what their country needs to do. The trouble is that you are most likely to meet them in Oxford (which has lots of outstanding German students), Harvard, Paris or Tokyo rather than in Heidelberg, Munich or Berlin. Today's genuinely free German youth have seized the chances offered by an integrated Europe, and a globalised world, to vote with their feet. Many of the brightest seem likely to make their professional careers largely outside Germany. Unless something changes back home, that is.

Some of those "impressive young Germans" have alighted in Silicon Valley (SAP runs a research center in Palo Alto.) They are mingling with the impressive young Indians, Chinese , Koreans and, nowadays, Irish, in this "world is flat" valley and planning for a glorious future. Whether continental Europe or, for that matter, the United States, has a role in that future is an open question. In the meantime we will watch with great interest whether Angela Merkel can forge a centrist coalition out of former (and likely future) combatants.

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