The definite decline of the German model?

Abstract

Germany has been for decades the benchmark society for the combination of a buoyant economy and a stable political system with an integrated institutional order capable of leading a European Union in its process of progressive integration. The coherence of its political-institutional order and its economic structure with its cooperative culture of social dialogue and its confederal model of the Länder have motivated its consideration as a model.

Germany has been for decades the benchmark society for the combination of a buoyant economy and a stable political system with an integrated institutional order capable of leading a European Union in its process of progressive integration. The coherence of its political-institutional order and its economic structure with its cooperative culture of social dialogue and its confederal model of the Länder have motivated its consideration as a model.

This article aims to analyze the crisis of the German model from a dynamic perspective in its interrelated economic, political and cultural dimensions. For this purpose, the concept of the German model is first defined. In a second step, its historical development is reconstructed from the Fordist era to the present day with special attention to the institutional base and its recent erosion. We conclude with some final reflections on the risks of this crisis for the future of a democratic and inclusive Europe.