Escalation Archives - understand-culture

Quarrels on an Open Stage

Wer bei mir Führung bestellt, muss wissen, dass er sie dann auch bekommt. Whoever orders leadership from me must know that he will then get it. According to the taz, the line dates from 2009, when Olaf Scholz took over the quarreling Hamburg SPD.

In October 2022 Scholz, now chancellor, ended a dispute between the Greens and the FDP over nuclear plants with a formal instruction. The Green member of parliament Irene Mihalic said: Das zeugt nicht von großer Führungsstärke. That does not show great strength of leadership.

In March 2023 the CDU leader Friedrich Merz said that ministers argued auf offener Bühne, on an open stage. Der Bundeskanzler steht daneben und sagt nichts. The chancellor stands next to them and says nothing.

The Evil Neighbor

In Act 4 of Friedrich Schiller’s play Wilhelm Tell, a man named Stüssi says: Ja, wohl dem, der sein Feld bestellt in Ruh, / Und ungekränkt daheim sitzt bei den Seinen. Yes, happy is the man who tills his field in peace and sits at home, unharmed, with his family.

Tell answers: Es kann der Frömmste nicht im Frieden bleiben, / Wenn es dem bösen Nachbar nicht gefällt. The most pious man cannot live in peace if it does not please his evil neighbor.

The line is often quoted in a slightly different form, in Frieden and Nachbarn.

Words for Trouble

der Störenfried — the disturber of the peace. A person who troubles the calm of a group.

der Streithammel — the quarrel ram. A person who likes to argue.

Der Haussegen hängt schief. — The house blessing hangs crooked. There is trouble at home.

Es herrscht dicke Luft. — There is thick air. The mood is tense.

Nine Steps Down

German conflict training often uses the nine stages of escalation described by Friedrich Glasl. They fall into three levels. In the first, both sides can still win. In the second, one wins and the other loses. In the third, both lose. The last stage is called Gemeinsam in den Abgrund, together into the abyss.

A training handout on violence in medical practices, on the website of the national association of statutory health insurance physicians, lists the nine stages. It quotes the first rule of a state accident insurer: Wehret den Anfängen! Stop it at the start. A regional sports federation teaches club officials that at the second stage, eine sachliche (!) Auseinandersetzung, a factual discussion, could still end the conflict.

The Wire-Mesh Fence

In 1999 Regina Zindler of Auerbach in Saxony took a dispute with her neighbor to Richterin Barbara Salesch, a court show on the channel Sat.1. It was about a snowberry bush, a Knallerbsenstrauch, at her Maschendrahtzaun, her wire-mesh fence. Her claim was dismissed.

Stefan Raab made a song out of her Saxon pronunciation of the word. Maschendrahtzaun spent six weeks at number one in the German charts. Fans besieged her property, stole parts of the fence and damaged her house. She moved to Berlin and returned to Saxony only years later.

Pupils Who Settle Disputes

Hamburg’s school authority runs a program in which trained older pupils mediate conflicts among younger pupils. They are called Streitschlichter, dispute settlers. The program seeks Lösungen, bei denen es keine Verlierer gibt, solutions with no losers.

Hamburg’s minimum standards of 2021 set the training for pupil mediators at, as a rule, 40 hours. Taking part is voluntary. The standards name one benefit for the adults. Pädagogische Kräfte werden von Alltagskonflikten entlastet. Teachers are relieved of everyday conflicts. In Saxony, experienced teachers have supported schools in training pupil mediators since 2002.

The Question in Every Lawsuit

Since July 2012, a German statement of claim should state whether mediation or another out-of-court procedure was tried before the lawsuit was filed. It should also say whether there are reasons against such a procedure. The rule is in § 253 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It came with the law to promote mediation.

The law says soll, should, not muss, must.

Conciliation Before the Lawsuit

In 2024 Bavaria’s highest regional court, the Bayerisches Oberstes Landesgericht, ruled that a lawsuit between two neighbors in a Munich apartment building was inadmissible. One had insulted the other during an argument in August 2020. The other sued for at least 1,000 euros in damages. He had not first gone through the conciliation procedure that Bavarian law requires.

Federal law allows the states to make certain lawsuits admissible only after an attempt at conciliation. These include some claims between neighbors and insults to personal honor that did not appear in the press or on air. In Bavaria the conciliator is a notary or a lawyer. In other states it is often a Schiedsperson, an honorary local official.

A Rhineland-Palatinate brochure with a foreword by the state’s justice minister carries the title Schlichten ist besser als Richten, settling is better than judging.

Every Unit Signs for Its Part

In a German federal ministry, every matter has one lead unit. The Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries give the lead to the unit that is mainly responsible under the distribution of business. In case of doubt, the ministry’s organization division decides. The lead unit then decides which other units take part. Co-signing, the Mitzeichnung, is reserved for matters of importance. Durch Mitzeichnung wird die fachliche Verantwortung für den vertretenen Aufgabenbereich übernommen. By co-signing, a unit takes professional responsibility for its own area. The file must show which units worked on the matter, co-signed it and signed it. If ministries still disagree after a personal attempt to settle the matter, the cabinet paper must set out the dispute, together with proposed solutions.

Tired of the Coalition’s Quarrels

In August 2023 the polling institute Forsa asked Germans about the disputes inside the governing coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP. Thirty-five percent said they understood that the three parties argued because their opinions differed. Sixty-one percent said they were so tired of the constant disputes that they no longer listened closely to what the disputes were about. The coalition broke apart in November 2024.