Economically troubled Germany just held elections and will soon have a new government. The conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) is likely to create a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which was the dominant force in the last coalition. A government formed by the country's two traditionally dominant parties is usually termed a "grand coalition," but the arrangement hardly rates that name now that support for the SDP has plummeted behind that for the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). That leaves the country's future uncertain since Germany's troubles are largely the result of decisions made by the SDP and the CDU/CSU in past governments.
The Collapse of a Coalition Leaves Limited Options
Germany's outgoing government was a "traffic light coalition" of the SDP (red), the classical liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP, yellow), and the Greens (green). It was an ideologically incoherent arrangement that presided over several years of economic doldrums, dithering over the response to the war in Ukraine, and terrible energy policies. It fell apart when the FDP had enough of fighting with its partners and withdrew from the coalition.
