Elevated Anticipations for Upcoming Event
A Stable and Effective Government for a Divided Nation: The Challenges Ahead
Germany's newly elected government faces a daunting task, as it strives to navigate a political landscape marked by differing expectations, conflicts, crises, and frequent changes. Achieving broad acceptance across party lines will be no easy feat, given the diverse expectations from various voter groups.
The CDU/CSU voters emphasize leadership, while SPD and Greens supporters seek a forward-looking approach. The AfD voters, on the other hand, stress the importance of closeness to the citizens. Despite these disparities, the new coalition partners can hope for a basic understanding from the population regarding compromises, as six out of ten respondents perceive compromises as a strength of democracy.
The real work begins after the election day, focusing on forming a stable and effective government. To achieve this, the new administration must demonstrate several key qualities.
Foundational Legitimacy: Ensuring Safety and Security
The government must ensure the safety and security of its citizens, providing continuous access to essential goods (food, water, shelter), managing disaster relief effectively, and preventing or quelling unjustified violence or rebellions. Without successfully fulfilling these core security functions, a government lacks legitimacy and stability.
Contingent Legitimacy: Procedural Fairness and Inclusion
Beyond security, legitimacy depends on exercising power in ways perceived as acceptable by the populace. This usually includes democratic rights and processes, consent of the governed, equal representation, protection of basic individual rights and freedoms, social justice, and adherence to fairness principles.
Democratic Features: Participation, Equality, and Transparency
Stability is supported by effective participation, equality in voting, an informed electorate, citizen control of the agenda, inclusion, and guaranteed fundamental rights. These democratic features ensure that the public can voice opinions on policies, set priorities, and have equal representation in the decision-making process.
Collaborative and Servant Leadership
Effective governance in polarized and crisis-prone contexts benefits from leadership that promotes collaboration, strategic planning, empowerment of teams, and servant leadership—leaders who prioritize serving the community and empowering staff to design and implement solutions independently while maintaining organizational calm during challenges and failures.
Organizational Culture and Psychological Well-being
Governments and public organizations should foster open, equitable cultures with transparent communication and mechanisms to manage internal politics constructively. This supports resilience, well-being, and retention of skilled personnel vital for effective service delivery during crises.
In a political environment marked by low trust, it is crucial for the new government to set realistic expectations and make transparent which political goals are achievable in the short term, where longer processes are necessary, and why compromises had to be made. The public, media, and citizens are called upon to recognize and respect compromises as an essential element of a functioning democracy.
For more information on the surveys used to gather this data, please visit this link. The journey towards a stable and effective German government has only just begun, and it will be a challenging yet rewarding process for all involved.
- To establish a stable and effective government, the new coalition partners in Germany's recently elected government must engage in policy-and-legislation that prioritizes foundational legitimacy by ensuring safety and security, while also addressing contingent legitimacy through procedural fairness and inclusion.
- Achieving general-news headlines devoid of political controversies and crises requires the new administration to collaborate, exhibit servant leadership, and foster a healthy organizational culture that encourages a psychologically well-balanced workforce capable of handling the challenges ahead, thus gaining the trust of the population.
