In this crime series, a fictionalized Angela Merkel solves mysteries with the same patience and methodical questioning she was known for as chancellor. The show highlights her tendency to “wear down” suspects with persistent, careful interrogation, mirroring her real-life approach to political negotiations, where she was famous for her endurance and refusal to be rushed.
Triple Alliance
Patience played a significant role in Germany’s decision to join and shape the Triple Alliance. German leadership, particularly under Bismarck, approached alliance-building with careful, deliberate diplomacy, allowing the nature and stakes of the decision to dictate the pace rather than succumbing to external pressures or hasty proposals.
Historical records show that German diplomats were wary of rushing into agreements, especially when approached by Britain about joining the alliance. The German government interpreted Britain’s urgency as a sign of British weakness and saw no reason to accelerate their own decision-making process. Instead, they used the opportunity to negotiate from a position of strength, raising their own terms and ensuring that any agreement would serve Germany’s long-term strategic interests.
Additionally, the process of forming and maintaining the Triple Alliance itself was marked by careful negotiation and patience. Germany prioritized frontier security and the stability of its alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy, weighing the benefits and risks over time rather than making impulsive decisions based on immediate diplomatic overtures. German diplomats often delayed or slowed negotiations, insisting on clarity and thoroughness before committing to any binding agreements.
In summary, Germany’s approach to joining the Triple Alliance exemplified the national logic that the timing and nature of major decisions should be determined by strategic considerations and patience, not by the urgency of external actors or short-term pressures.
dangers to haste
In Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, the decline of a merchant family is depicted through generations, with characters often engaging in lengthy deliberations about business and personal decisions. In The Magic Mountain, the protagonist Hans Castorp spends years in a sanatorium, using this time for philosophical reflection and gradual decision-making about his life’s direction. Mann’s works frequently explore the virtue of patience and the dangers of succumbing to haste or external pressures.
Better a bird in the hand
“Besser den Spatz in der Hand als die Taube auf dem Dach” – better a sparrow in the hand than a dove on the roof – is a popular German saying expressing the German aversion to risk.
Aversion to risk and conservativeness go hand-in-hand. Never want too much, be satisfied with what you have.“ Den Mund nicht voll nehmen.” – Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Only 13 percent of Germans invested in stocks and shares during 2014. Despite rock-bottom interest rates, the majority of savers continued putting their money into trusted bank savings accounts and fixed-return financial products.
Think first. Then act.
Germans often have the impression that their American colleagues gather too little information before making a decision. Valuable information sources are not tapped into. Comparisons are made “on thin ice.” Early indications based on subjective sources are not questioned critically.
All these reservations go against the German belief in erst denken, dann handeln – think first, then act. For richtig denken – literally right or correct thinking, in the German context means holding down (controlling) the natural impulse to act until the situation has been analyzed and the consequences of actions thought through.
It should be of no surprise, therefore, that Germans often see American analysis as insuffiently stringent. They see a narrow and incomplete focus on only certain aspects of the decision to be made. They fear that the Americans overestimate their ability to do a sauber – clean analysis.
This is underlined by what the Germans believe is an American tendancy to take subjective information too strongly into consideration. They are surprised when their counterparts do not use those tools and standards which have proven to be successful.
In the end Germans see their Americans colleagues as too pragmatic, too inaxact. Insufficient results are accepted too quickly. This is very difficult for Germans to accept as a people which places so much emphasis on avoiding errors via accepted tools and standards, errors which could be the source of a Systemzusammenbruch – literally system collapse. Germans see themselves sliding into danger which can only be stopped through analysis performed twice or even three times over.
Germany. Geography. Risk.
How a people understands risk is based on its experiences as a people, on the decisions it has made and on their ramifications. Decisions take place within a concrete context, within certain parameters, such as geography. Germany lies in the middle of Europe, has always had a number of neighbors, some friends, some foe, others neutral.
Germany’s topography offers little protection. In the East vast flatlands flow into the steppes of Russia. Never a maritime power, Germany to the north has only narrow access to the high seas. With the exception of the Rhine River, there are also no natural barriers in the West offering protection.The Alps to the south offer protection, however.
Compared to such countries as the U.S., China, Russia, Germany has limited natural resources. The U.S. is a continental nation, defended by oceans to the East and West. Great Britain, once a great power, has forever enjoyed the protection of the seas as an island nation.
Any mistakes Germany made in its relations with its neighbors and the powers beyond was felt directly by its people. Time and again in its history devastating wars were fought on German territory, decimating its population and ravaging its economy. For some of the wars the German people have themselves to blame. For others they were victims.
Risiko or risk from Italian risico: to do something involving a certain degree of chance, with possible negative effects; possibility of significant loss, failure.
Germans often say auf Nummer sicher gehen, literally to play the safe number, when they want to avoid unnecessary risk. Germans prefer to “check twice and be sure”. They check, test, question, analyze. They’re often considered to be overly detailed, risk averse, even pedantic in their approach. Being particularly careful may test one’s patience, but the Germans would rather be safe than sorry.
Or lieber den Spatz in der Hand, als die Taube auf dem Dach, figuratively “better a bird in the hand than two in the bush“.
Nuclear energy? No thanks!
The German anti-nuclear-energy movement began as a social movement back in the 1970’s. It was directed against civilian consumption of nuclear energy. In comparison to other European countries, the movement has also received both the strongest and most continuous support in Germany. The anti-nuclear-energy movement is strongly connected to the environmentalist movement: Greenpeace, BUND and Robin Hood, for example, categorically reject the use of nuclear energy.
The accident on Three-Mile-Island in 1979 and the catastrophe at Chernobyl in 1986 provided the movement with new fuel. In 2000, the Schroeder-Fischer government began the process of phasing out the use of nuclear energy throughout the country.
While in 2010 the Kohl-government was gearing up for an extension of the run-time of the remaining nuclear plants, the German reaction to the nuclear incident in Fukushima in 2011 forced Chancellor Merkel, an advocate of nuclear energy, to reconsider this decision. Germany now plans to phase out nuclear energy completely by May 30th, 2022.
Fukushima ultimately resulted in an acceleration of the phasing-out of nuclear facilities in Germany. One year after Fukushima Chancellor Merkel defended her decision: “As we have witnessed, risks emerged in a highly developed industrial country, which we never would have considered to be possible. That is what convinced me that we should accelerate the phase-out”.
Meanwhile, Japan continues to invest in the nuclear industry. Great Britain is planning the construction of a new atomic plant. Even in France Fukushima could not slow the success of the nuclear industry. And in the USA, Fukushima also had no significant impact on opinions on nuclear energy held by the President and other politicians.
The German anti-nuclear energy movement and the nation’s response to Fukushima demonstrate the unique understanding that Germans have of risk.