In the media
Photo: "SPD" (CC BY 2.0) by abbilder After the establishment of a new grand coalition on 14th of March 2018 in Germany, Fedor Ruhose, Policy Fellow at Das Progressive Zentrum, and DPZ-Director Dominic Schwickert analyse the current state of the centre-left parties, in particular the SPD. They point out upcoming challenges in the national and European context and set out five key challenges which German social democrats must overcome.
Photo: DPZ, 2017For Politico, Policy Fellow Fedor Ruhose comments on how to tackle provocations of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the Bundestag (German parliament).
Photo: "Rede Martin Schulz" (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by SPDEuropaOnly a few months ago the Myth Martin Schulz seemed to have pulled the Social Democratic Party out of their ongoing plight. A glance at the outcomes of the most recent state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia however, seem to indicate otherwise. Yet, how significant are the outcomes of the state elections for the future of the party on a national level? Or has the proclaimed “Schulz-Effekt” already worn off?
Maria Skóra wrote for the progressive polish online news magazine trybuna.eu about the chancellor candidate for the SPD Martin Schulz. She introduces the person and explains why he is a candidate for though times.
Maria Skóra schreibt für das progressive polnische Portal trybuna.eu über den Kanzlerkandidaten der SPD Martin Schulz. Sie stellt die Person Martin Schulz vor und erläutert, warum er ein Kandidat für schwierige Zeiten ist.
You can read the article here in Polish.
Expect German-American relations to cool over the coming months as September’s elections draw closer
Photo: DPZResentment of workers from other nations has buoyed right-wing politics on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Trump’s and the Johnson-led Leave campaign in the UK exploited the economic pessimism of the working class.
Farai Chideya asks in her article on FiveThirtyEight: Do we now witness a trans-Atlantic nativist moment?
“If there has been a feedback loop between U.S. and European nativism, it has been in the impression nativists on both sides of the Atlantic got that it’s kicking off everywhere,” said our chair, Dr. Tobias Dürr.
Photo: Progressives Zentrum / Jacob Per BlutOn March 7, our Dialogue on Europe made its second stop in Lisbon, Portugal. Now, the Politico wrote about Michael Roth‘s “discreet and unconventional tour (…) to connect directly with citizens”.
Photo: Josh Zakary / Flickr CC-BY-NC 2.0Last October, Carsten Schneider, Jakob von Weizsäcker (both SPD), Karine Berger and Valérie Rabault (both Parti socialiste) participated in our Interparlamentarian Conference: Towards a progressive Europe. Now, they wrote a joint op-ed that was published in Le Monde stressing the importance of a progressive and humane refugee policy.
Photo: Wikicommons / OTFW / CC BY-SA 1.0Our Policy Fellow Laura-Kristine Krause and Florian Ranft, researcher at the London-based think tank Policy Network, published an analysis of the state of the German social democratic party. They argue that Sigmar Gabriel should brush off questions over his leadership and capitalise on party support for his centre-orientated reform strategy.
Jan Schoofs, who contributed to our research project on party reform as Visiting Fellow, sheds light on recent efforts of German parties to adapt their organizations to the changing social, economic, and political environment. He carves out strategies that go beyond merely sustaining robust membership numbers, and states:
The successful member party is a learning party.
Read his full article on the AICGS blog.
As lessons can be drawn from international comparison, you may have a look at the project results on www.parteireform.org, too.
Germany’s CDU are in disarray over the refugee crisis, but the SPD cannot presume to become the automatic beneficiaries
Photo: morguefile.com/ DuBoixIn his op-ed article for The European Nils Heisterhagen writes: In the face of thriving nationalism, terrorism and upcoming wars Europe and the US need to build a strong alliance – otherwise they will not only harm themselves but one another.
Having experienced a resounding defeat in the recent German election, the SPD have maneuvered into a position whereby they can strongly challenge Angela Merkel from within the Bundestag.
Policy Fellow Hanno Burmester provided an analysis for the Czech online magazine Česká pozice. Pointing out the difficulties German parties face by growing distrust in old-fashioned party politics, a polarization of the public debate on immigration and asylum and the rise of various forms of (right wing) populism – as currently visible with the anti-Islam demonstrations of ‘Pegida’ across Germany – he concludes:
The support for democracy is never a given. It has to be established continually – in every country.
