There are plenty of English-language commentators who see every German twitch as proof that the country’s long period of prosperity and stability is finally coming to an end. The sort of commentators who have predicted all 17 of Angela Merkel’s last zero political downfalls.
I am not of them, having always taken the view that the country is fairly resilient. I first moved to Berlin shortly after Merkel’s 2015 decision to let in more than a million refugees and have since closely followed the quiet success story of German society mobilising at all levels to help the newcomers learn the language and acquire homes, qualifications and jobs. The scenes in recent weeks of teenagers from the 2015 influx scooping top grades in their school leaving exams were testament to those strengths. With its emphasis on long-termism, expertise, consensus and decentralised power, the German system is good at challenges requiring patience and widespread buy-in.
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