Afterword

Abstract

This afterword summarises our main findings and discusses their political and scholarly implications. We find that Merkel's leadership style and foreign policy approach were consensual during her first term in office; moreover, she did not overtly address women's issues – although her coalition did promulgate legislation which improved conditions for some German women. Our argument here is not that the Chancellor adopted this leadership style and these policy positions because she is a woman per se, but because she is a woman with a particular background. We show the utility of studying national leaders individually in order to determine how their gender roles have been defined, and how such roles intersect with social characteristics. This method can be fruitfully applied in other cases as well. As such research proliferates, the field will be able to draw more generalisable conclusions about the intersection of gender, social characteristics, and executive leadership.

Notes

Lori Cox Han, ‘Presidential Leadership: Governance from a Woman's Perspective’, in Robert P. Watson and Ann Gordon (eds), Anticipating Madam President (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003), p.170; see also Cindy Simon Rosenthal, ‘Determinants of Collaborative Leadership: Civic Engagement, Gender, or Institutional Norms?’, Political Research Quarterly 51/4 (1998), pp. 847–868.

Han, ‘Presidential Leadership’, p.171; Azza Karam and Joni Lovenduski, ‘Women in Parliament Making a Difference’, in Julie Ballington and Azza Karam (eds), Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers (Stockholm: IDEA, 2005), pp. 187–213.

Han, ‘Presidential Leadership’, pp.170–71.

Clay Clemens, ‘From the Outside In: Angela Merkel as Opposition Leader: 2000–2005’, German Politics and Society 24/3 (2006), p.42.

Peter Katzenstein, Policy and Politics in West Germany (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press,1987).

For a review of the literature on Grand Coalitions see Angelika von Wahl, ‘From Family to Reconciliation Policy: How the Grand Coalition Reforms the German Welfare State’, German Politics and Society 26/3 (2008), as well as Jonathan Olsen's contribution to this collection, ‘Leadership in Grand Coalitions: Comparing Angela Merkel and Kurt George Kiesinger’, German Politics, DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2011.606564.

Claus Christian Malzahn, ‘The Modern Chancellor: Taking Stock of Gerhard Schroder’, Spiegel-Online International, 14 Oct. 2005, available from http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,379600,00.html (accessed Aug. 2011).

For an example see comments from Hönigsberger, Kurbjuweit, and Wiesendahl in Netzwerk Recherche, ‘Understanding Merkel’, 28 April 2009, available from http://www.netzwerkrecherche.de/docs/nr-dossier-2009-01.pdf (accessed Aug. 2011).

‘Schwarz-Gelb: Zehn Schritte zum Absturtz’, Spiegel On-Line, available from http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-24645.html (accessed 11 Jan. 2011).

Hajo Schumacher, Die Zwölf Gesetze der Macht. Angela Merkels Erfolgsgeheimnisse (München: Heyne, 2007), p.87.

Debra J. Davidson and Wiluam R. Freudenburg, ‘Gender and Environmental Risk Concerns. A Review and Analysis of Available Research’, Environment and Behavior 28/3 (1996), pp. 302–339.

Christina Wolbrecht and David E. Campbell, ‘Leading By Example: Female Members of Parliament as Role Models’, American Journal of Political Science 51/4 (2007).

Carsten Volkery, ‘Merkels Richtlinienkompetenz: Kanzlerin unter Stoiber und Müntefering’, Spiegel-Online, 11 Oct. 2005, available from http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,379171,00.html (accessed Aug. 2011).

Malzahn, ‘The Modern Chancellor’.