The end of the Merkel era

After a decade and a half in office, Germany’s Angela Merkel is stepping down. On today’s show, we take a closer look at the chancellor’s life and legacy, and what this shift in power will mean for Germany and the world.

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Angela Merkel grew up the daughter of a pastor in communist East Germany, and political possibilities opened up for her after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. As chancellor she carried Germany and by extension the European Union through crisis after crisis with a steady hand. But her legacy is somewhat more complicated at home than it is abroad, as Loveday Morris and Ishaan Tharoor report.

“Some applaud her humble, consensus-driven political style,” Morris writes. “Others see a lack of bold leadership, particularly in the face of a more aggressive Russia and rising Chinese power.”

As Merkel leaves office, we talk about the vacuum of power she leaves behind and what might happen next.