Precarious Victory

by Conradt, David P.; Keinfeld, Gerald R.; Soe, Christian; Kleinfeld, Gerald R.; Se, Christian

• ISBN13: 9781571818652
• ISBN10: 1571818650
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-10
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

The 2002 campaign and election was one of the most dramatic in the history of the Federal Republic. An unprecedented last minute swing narrowly re-elected the Social Democratic-Green government of Chancellor Schroeder. The campaign featured the first-ever American style television debate between the two candidates for the chancellorship. Foreign policy, particularly the refusal of Schroeder to support the Iraq policies of US President George W. Bush, played an unusually important role. In the aftermath of the election the government was faced with a deteriorating economy and the charge of the opposition that it had deliberately mislead voters during the campaign. In this volume, distinguished experts from both sides of the Atlantic analyse these and other critical issues. Their work is based on extensive research in Germany and Washington, which included interviews with major political figures and the collection of new campaign and election data. Contributors:William Patterson, E. GeneFrankland, Clay Clemens, ChristianSøe, Gerald R.Kleinfeld, David Patton, Dieter Roth, Mary N. Hampton, FerdinandBreitbach, Irwin Collier, Helga Welsh, StephenSzabo.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction by David P. Conradt, Gerald R. Kleinfeld, and Christian Søe	x
1. The 2002 Campaign and Election: An Overview	1	(24)
David P. Conradt
2. Who Won and Why	25	(12)
Dieter Roth
3. Gerhard Schröder and the Unlikely Victory of the German Social Democrats	37	(21)
William E. Paterson and James Sloam
4. Hold the Champagne: Edmund Stoiber's CDU/CSU and Bundestagswahl 2002	58	(25)
Clay Clemens
5. Saving Schröder: The Greens in 2002	83	(25)
E. Gene Frankland
6. A False Dawn for Germany's Liberals: The Rise and Fall of Project 18	108	(27)
Christian Søe
7. The PDS Implodes	135	(18)
Gerald R. Kleinfeld
8. Ladies' Choice: Returning the Schroder Government to Power in 2002	153	(17)
Mary N. Hampton
9. Dogs That Did Not Bark: German Exceptionalism Reconsidered	170	(15)
David F. Patton
10. The Poisoned Relationship: Germany, the United States, and the Election of 2002	185	(20)
Stephen F. Szabo
11. German Policymaking and the Reform Gridlock	205	(15)
Helga A. Welsh
12. Can Gerhard Schröder Do It? Prospects for Fundamental Reform of the German Economy and a Return to High Employment	220	(36)
Irwin Collier
Appendix	256	(6)
Notes on Contributors	262	(3)
Index	265