Habermas: Angela Merkel "Berlusconizing" Politics

It's always interesting when Germany's greatest living philosopher, Jürgen Habermas, comments on current events.  Habermas does not disappoint in his piece in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung - Merkels von Demoskopie geleiteter Opportunismus - wherein he criticizes the chancellor for bending to the prevailing populist winds rather than leading.  Habermas has more than once commented on the creeping nationalism in Germany and the turning away from the project of the European Union.  In particular, Habermas points to Merkels persistent support for the populuar Defence Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, long after it was apparent that he fraudulently earned his doctorate by plagiarizing his dissertation:

Kühl kalkulierend hat sie für ein paar Silberlinge, die sie an den Wahlurnen dann doch nicht hat einstreichen können, das rechtsstaatliche Amtsverständnis kassiert.

(“She has, with cool calculation, cashed in the constitutional idea of public office for a few pieces of silver that she hasn’t even been able to pocket at the ballot box.

In Merkel Habermas is unable to discern any vision other than gaining and holding on to political power for its own sake:

Früher ließen sich die Politiken der Bundesregierungen aus einer nachvollziehbaren Perspektive bündeln: Adenauer war auf die Bindung an den Westen fixiert, Brandt auf die Ostpolitik und die Dritte Welt; Schmidt relativierte das Schicksal des kleinen Europa aus dem Blickwinkel der Weltökonomie, und Helmut Kohl wollte die nationale in die europäische Einigung einbinden. Alle wollten noch etwas! Schröder hat schon eher reagiert als gestaltet; immerhin wollte Joschka Fischer eine Entscheidung über die finalité, wenigstens die Richtung der europäischen Einigung herbeiführen. Seit 2005 zerfließen die Konturen vollends. Man kann nicht mehr erkennen, worum es geht; ob es überhaupt noch um mehr geht als um den nächsten Wahlerfolg.

(In th past it was always possible to gain a coherent perspective in the policies of the federal governments: Adenauer was fixated on bonding with the west, Brandt on Ostpolitik and the Third World; Schmidt relativized the fate of small Europe from the perspective of the global economy, and Helmut Kohl wanted to tie national with European unification.  The all wanted something else! True, Schröder was much more reactive than proactive but at least Joschka Fischer was pushing in the direction of European unity.  But since 2005 the contours disolve completely.  We no longer know what it's about; if it means anything beyond winning the next election.)

In the op/ed piece Habermas also accuses the media of being complicit in "Berlusconizing" public discourse  - something that is even more pronounced in the US - rather than engaging in a rational exchange of ideas or proposals for change.

Comments

[Strahler 70]

Circumstances are completely against Madame Chancelor. The junior partner FDP is a loose cannon. The conflicts in Libya and Afghanistan are a lose-lose situation for her. Whether she engages more or less, it will be wrong. Pushing the European unity is equal to pushing billions to the PIGS - and reducing national sovereignty in favor of the European Superstate. Fukushima completes the desaster: Unable to support nuclear energy anymore, she retreats to oximoronic proposals. Biding time is her only option: Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt...

One more mistake of the FDP could be the coup de grace to the coalition. The majority of the conservatives already think the CDU needs a sharp turn back to the right, that it was wrong to put the focus on the liberal right of center, which in their view is still too left.

Indeed, I don't see Merkel 'berlusconizing' the public discourse, but I expect her successor to do that, in case the coalition breaks down. The parole could be then: National prosperity or socialism. With the stress on 'National'...

[David]

"Biding time is her only option: Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt..."

She is really Helmut Kohl's girl: "nur aussitzen!"

[Hattie]

I think she is not alone in her paralysis, which seems to have overwhelmed the political set. What if we can't solve our problems. What then?

[John in Michigan, USA]

A unified Germany has now had the vote for just over 20 years, and now, some politicians seem to want to keep it for another 20! The horror!

Someone needs to explain to the silly hausfrau that democracy, like milk, expires after a certain time, and must be thrown away.

[David]

JIM - How is Habermas' critique of Merkel's opportunism an attack on democracy? Do you know anything about Habermas or his philosophy?

[John in Michigan, USA]

@David:

I wrote a response re Habermas but the Internet apparently has swallowed it.

Short answer: I don't see him making an attack on democracy, more accurately I see him expressing a certain distrust of democracy and a preference for technocracy.

I think, due in part to the way that Lisbon went into effect, that this will be an unofficial issue or recurring theme in most national elections in the EU and Eurozone for the foreseeable future. The people will get their referendum, one way or another.

A tangent illustrates the "Berlusconizing" of academia.

Have you followed the LSE Libya links controvery?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSE_Libya_Links

Includes a developing story that suggests that Saif Gaddafi's Ph.D. thesis was "ghost-written and/or plagiarised". If true, the contrast between how the two academics are treated (zu G and Saif) to me is very poignant symbolism.

The academic class seem have their own irrational populism that is just as scary, to me, as actual democratic populism.

But I acknowledge I haven't read any Habermas :-)