A Snapshot of the 2017 German Parliamentary Elections

Abstract

The 4th term of Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany was at stake on the September 24, 2017 parliamentary elections. To achieve this, she had to overcome the relative weakening position of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in internal politics caused by consequences of the repeated European crisis management in recent years – the economic crisis of 2008, the Russia–Ukraine conflict active since 2014, the 2015 migration and refugee crisis and the current drive for the internal reform of the European Union –, as well as the repositioning of her current coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as a challenger at the elections, and the appearance of the radical – extreme right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in politics. On the one hand, this study introduces the programs of the most important political parties participating in the German federal election, while on the other hand it offers a summary of the most important conclusions of the authors’ October 2017 expert consultations in Berlin. During these consultations leading German foreign and security policy experts expressed their views after the results of the election became known, highlighting policy expectations regarding the future course of German foreign and security policy, defense policy, the internal reform process of the European Union, the relations of Berlin and the Visegrad countries, as well as German–Turkish and German–Russian relations.