Skip to main content

Angela Merkel by Stefan Kornelius: book review



Kornelius, in Angela Merkel: The Chancellor and herWorld (2013), covers all aspects of Merkel’s personal and political life from Merkelmania to her future prospects. The novel concludes at the end of her second term in office in 2013.

Merkel (1954-) the German Chancellor is in her third parliamentary term after coming to power in the November 2005 federal election, and winning again in October 2009 and December 2013. She’s been depicted along a continuum of criticisms from a mysterious, quiet, unknown to a dominatrix. But what is her worldview as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as leader of the Opposition – and as Chancellor of Germany under the grand coalition with the CDU and the Social Democratic Party of Germany? She is the first woman in Germany to hold both offices. Right now she has the historical burden of the banking crisis that mutated into the Europe economic crisis, as well as domestic issues.

Kornelius starts with Angela Kasner’s upbringing in the German Democratic Republic in the small village of Templin in former East Germany, a one-and-a-half hour drive north of Berlin, under Soviet restrictions in East Germany. He writes of her school years and her visits to Moscow as a research scientist, and hitchhiking in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her political career began typing press releases for the Democratic Awakening Party after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the German reunification between East and West Germany. In 1991 she was appointed as the Federal Minister for Women and Youth. Merkel’s strengths have been described as “order, structure, the ability to plan ahead” as well as an enquiring mind, analytical, and the opposite of impulsive.

The biography is thorough in its detail, especially when outlining Merkel’s relationships with foreign leaders, particularly the British Prime Ministers, the French leaders, and the Presidents of the United States. There are detailed sections on her views about Germany’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan; the crisis in Libya; and Germany’s relationship with Israel. In her speech of 2011 she says, “That historical responsibility of Germany is one of my country’s reasons of state.” Kornelius discusses exactly what Merkel means by “reasons of state.” There is also an interesting section on her relationship with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin – “a much loved country, a difficult President.” Then there is also Merkel and Greece, Spain, India, China, and Italy.

There is an interesting analysis on Merkel’s views of freedom, “having lived for thirty-five years under a regime in which there was no freedom” and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the United States President Barack Obama in February 2011. “Freedom, said Merkel, is concerned first and foremost with responsibility … In Merkel’s value system, tolerance comes just below freedom and next to responsibility.”


Time and again, Kornelius goes beyond historical events in this authorized biography – he meticulously narrates Chancellor Merkel’s big political decisions through her actions and her words. It’s one of the most detailed political biographies I’ve read in a long while – interesting in its chronology and fascinating in its psychology.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more