German Claims for Leadership: From a Federalist to a Geopolitical Leadership Master Narrative

Figures & data

Table 1. Strategic narratives of leadership.

	Identity narrative: Leadership style	Issue narrative: Policy goals	System narrative: International order
Coalition agreement 10/2021	Servant leadership	European Federal State Strategic sovereignty	Great challenges of our time
Zeitenwende speech 2/2022	EU as scope of action Commitment to maintain Europe’s security, to defend Europe	European Sovereignty	Putin’s vision of nineteenth century great powers
Governmental declaration, 6/2022	Zeitenwende as ‘mandate to act’ for Germany	Geopolitical Europe Increase EU’s capacity to act	Putin wants to divide the continent
Prague keynote speech 8/2022	Germany as bridge / central power	Geopolitical Europe Strengthen the EU: ‘weltpolitikfähig’ European sovereignty	Putin’s war against Ukraine EU’s need to reform
Foreign policy journal 12/2022	Bridge builder Advocate for multilateral solutions	EU as world’s largest internal market with stable democracies Geopolitical actor	Multipolar world order Russia and China as influential actors Shattered European peace order
Europe Day 5/2023	–	Geopolitical EU to proactively shape its own future Competitive and prosper	Survival between giants Russia as unifying force for EU

Source: own compilation.