Angela Merkel
The pragmatic centre
Cautious, consensual conservatism for a modern Germany.
ConservativeOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Conservative hall →- Role
- Chancellor
- Era
- b. 1954
- Region
- Germany
- Social band
- Centre (no modifier)
- Placement
- +40 · +16 · +8
§ Where Angela Merkel stands
3 axesMerkel was fiscally orthodox: her first grand coalition wrote a debt brake into the constitution in 2009, her governments balanced the federal budget from 2014, and in the eurozone crisis from 2010 she made bailouts for Greece and others conditional on austerity and reform. Yet she defended Germany's social market economy, accepted a statutory minimum wage in 2015 and agreed joint EU borrowing for pandemic recovery in 2020.
Merkel was an institutionalist who governed through coalitions, three of them grand coalitions with the Social Democrats, and through patient negotiation at European summits. She preferred cautious, consensual management to grand gestures, though she occasionally acted decisively from the top, as with the accelerated nuclear phase-out after Fukushima in 2011 and the decision to keep borders open to refugees in 2015.
Merkel moved the Christian Democrats towards the centre on social questions without becoming a social liberal herself. Her governments suspended military conscription in 2011, expanded childcare and parental benefits, and took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015–16; in 2017 she allowed a free vote that legalised same-sex marriage, though she personally voted against it.
How close are you to Angela Merkel?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingAngela Merkel (b. 1954) was chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021, the first woman to hold the office. Born in Hamburg, she grew up in East Germany as the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, studied physics in Leipzig and earned a doctorate in quantum chemistry in East Berlin. She entered politics as the Berlin Wall fell, won a Bundestag seat in 1990 and served Helmut Kohl as minister for women and youth and then for the environment. She became leader of the Christian Democratic Union in 2000.
Merkel led four governments over sixteen years, steering Germany and the European Union through the 2008 financial crash, the eurozone debt crisis, the 2015 refugee influx and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her insistence on austerity in exchange for bailouts made her deeply unpopular in Greece, while her decision to keep borders open in 2015 divided Europe and boosted the Alternative for Germany. After Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine she was criticised for having deepened Germany's dependence on Russian gas, including support for Nord Stream 2. She stepped down in 2021, undefeated at the polls.
Notable for
- 01Sixteen years as chancellor
- 02Steered the eurozone crisis response
- 032015 refugee decision
Key works & moments
- 1990Elected to the first Bundestag of reunified Germany.
- 1999Breaks with Helmut Kohl in a newspaper article during the CDU donations scandal.
- 2005Becomes Germany's first female chancellor at the head of a grand coalition.
- 2011After the Fukushima disaster, accelerates Germany's exit from nuclear power.
- 2015Keeps Germany's borders open to refugees, telling Germans 'Wir schaffen das' (We can do this).
- 2021Leaves office after sixteen years, having chosen not to seek a fifth term.
In their own words
“We can do this.”
§ Minds closest to Angela Merkel
All minds →
§ Also in the Conservative hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Angela Merkel's political ideology?
Angela Merkel is a pragmatic Christian democrat: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Conservative. Economically she sits right of centre (+40), a fiscal conservative who wrote a debt brake into the constitution and demanded austerity in the eurozone crisis, while defending Germany's social market economy. On governance she is a consensual institutionalist (+16), governing through coalitions and European compromise, and socially she sits just on the progressive side of centre (+8), having moved her party towards the middle on family policy, migration and same-sex marriage.
Is Angela Merkel left-wing or right-wing?
Centre-right. Merkel led the Christian Democratic Union, Germany's main conservative party, and her fiscal policy was orthodox and pro-market. But she governed for twelve of her sixteen years in grand coalitions with the Social Democrats, accepted a minimum wage, phased out nuclear power and opened the borders to refugees in 2015, so conservatives in her own camp accused her of moving the party to the left. She is best described as a centrist conservative.
Why did Angela Merkel let refugees into Germany in 2015?
She presented it as a humanitarian and legal duty. At the end of August 2015 she told Germans 'Wir schaffen das' ('We can do this'), and on 4–5 September, with thousands of refugees, many fleeing the Syrian war, stranded in Hungary, she agreed with Austria to let them travel on to Germany rather than close the border. More than a million asylum seekers arrived in 2015–16. Supporters praised her compassion; critics, including members of her own alliance, said she lost control of the border and fuelled the rise of the Alternative for Germany.
Which minds are closest to Angela Merkel?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Angela Merkel are Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (94% alike), Manmohan Singh (92% alike) and Alan Greenspan (92% alike). The furthest is Emma Goldman (25% alike).