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The Compass: Can Germany Save the World?: Can Germany Save the World?: Stepping up on the world stage

Factual

Can Germany Save The World?

25/11/2020 GMT

Can Germany Save the World?: Stepping up on the world stage

Can Germany Save the World?

BBC World Service - The Compass, Can Germany Save the World?, Can Germany Save the World?: Stepping up on the world stage

Is Germany ready to be more assertive on the world stage?

Is Germany ready to be more assertive on the world stage, and what will that mean for Europe's global standing?

Because of its war history, Germany remains frightened of being assertive on its own. Yet it holds the key to enabling Europe to become the third global pole to China and America. This programme looks at Germany’s current place in the world: the facts, the psychology and the consequences. John Kampfner visits Duisburg in the gritty Ruhr area with its ambition to become “China City”. He goes to the former East, where businesses are desperate for closer ties with their former ally, Russia. He discusses the dilemmas Germany faces in its dealings with Russia: tensions over the poisoning of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and questions over the completion of the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. He looks at the pressure Germany is under to increase defence spending, and asks whether the country is ready to be more assertive and to take its place on the world stage. 

And then there is the question of what Germany represents. Today, one quarter of those living there have a non-German ethnic background. It used to be the crossroads between East and West. Now it’s a magnet for the global south. Germany looks and feels different. This final programme assesses whether, through its foreign policy and increasingly diverse population, Germany could become the standard bearer for liberal democracy in a more uncertain and often authoritarian world. How confident is the country as it looks ahead to a time without Angela Merkel at the helm?
 
Produced by Caroline Bayley

The Compass: Can Germany Save the World?

Does Germany have the answer to some of the West’s biggest problems?

John Kampfner examines at the many strengths and weaknesses of contemporary Germany. Does it have the answer to some of the West's biggest problems?

In this three-part series, the author John Kampfner travels across the country, looking at the many strengths, and weaknesses of contemporary Germany. His quest: to see if Germany has the answer to some of the West’s biggest problems: coronavirus, threats from China, Russia and beyond and the challenges of protecting liberal democracy. 
 
Germany has so far proven adept in its handling of the pandemic, and in dealing with crises more generally. How much of this is down to the leadership of Angela Merkel, or “Mutti”, as she is often known? This series looks at what it is to be German, and how its social and economic structures work. With all the turbulence around the globe, is Germany finally ready to step up and take a leadership role? From health chiefs to hipsters, car company bosses to refugees, anti-Communist pastors to entrepreneurs, Kampfner paints a vivid picture of a country that may be at the top of its game - but is fearful of what comes next.

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Can Germany Save the World?

Can Germany Save the World?: Stepping up on the world stage

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