Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Angela Merkel
- Country
- Germany
- Era
- b. 1954
- Tradition
- Christian democracy
Chancellor for sixteen years, who combined fiscal conservatism and pro-European commitment with the decision to admit around a million asylum seekers in 2015 and to phase out nuclear power.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Balanced-budget fiscal policy, written into the German constitution as the "debt brake"
- Kept German borders open to asylum seekers during the 2015 refugee crisis
- Accelerated the phase-out of nuclear power after Fukushima (Energiewende)
- Consistent support for European integration and the euro, with conditionality in the debt crisis
- Allowed a free parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage in 2017, voting against it herself
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
58
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
58
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
66
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Documented
Tradition and change
45
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Documented
Nation and the world
30
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Religion and the state
52
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Documented
Power and its limits
82
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Well documented
Environment and growth
62
Production firstProtection first
Evidence: Well documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Crime and punishment
Sources
- Schuldenbremse (debt brake), Basic Law Articles 109 and 115 · Federal Republic of Germany · 2009
- Thirteenth Amendment to the Atomic Energy Act (nuclear phase-out) · Federal Republic of Germany · 2011
Last verified: