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

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