Letzte Chance

As the new chancellor, Friedrich Merz faces enormous challenges. The enemies of democracy, both internal and external, are gearing up to attack the liberal order. The electoral success of the AfD threatens to fracture the political center. With Trump's re-election and Russia's advance, Germany's role in the world will change radically.

To address this, the chancellor must tackle issues that have already caused the previous coalition to fail: economic crisis, climate change, migration, and the rearmament of the Bundeswehr. Is Friedrich Merz up to this task? How will the new chancellor structure his government? And what must he learn from the failure of the previous coalition to succeed?

In his new book, bestselling author Robin Alexander takes a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most critical phases in German politics: from the exhausting power struggle between Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck, and Christian Lindner to the abrupt maneuvering of the Union in dealing with the AfD and the debt brake. The transition of power from Scholz to Merz is just another spectacular chapter in an even larger drama: the erosion of our democracy.

"Last Chance" is a brilliantly researched and compellingly narrated book that illustrates how a fragmented party landscape and a polarized public make stable majorities nearly impossible. It explains why it is becoming increasingly difficult to implement politics against external and internal resistance. It describes what is at stake if the new government, perhaps the last coalition of the political center, should fail – if the center can no longer hold, extremes will come to power.