An assessment of Angela Merkel's 16 years in office: What remains? No one has ever voluntarily relinquished the most powerful office in German politics—except Angela Merkel. And she proved herself once again as a crisis manager, especially towards the end of her term, garnering high approval ratings. This is how the Germans valued her: Angela Merkel was as pragmatic as Helmut Schmidt would have liked to be. She calmly dismantled several sacred cows of the Christian Democrats, such as conscription and nuclear power. Critics accused her of having only one agenda: to be Chancellor. And yet, she shaped an era of German politics: The years from 2005 to 2021 are clearly the Merkel years. What remains of them? Was < Has she governed pragmatically, or have developments been set in motion that point beyond the immediate future? Yes, they have, says Ursula Weidenfeld, but the German public has largely failed to notice them. This book is more than just an assessment. It attempts to do justice to the Merkel phenomenon, to trace the spirit of the era, and to consider what has defined this—our—time. New product