By Andrew Hammond

Ordinarily, Saturday’s 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall might have been expected to be a cause for much joy in Germany. However, celebrations of the milestone will for many people be subdued given the nation’s deep economic and political funk.

This was most recently illustrated by the collapse on Wednesday of the three-way governing coalition that included the left-of-center Social Democratic Party (the SPD), the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP, declaring that there was no longer any “basis of trust” between them. Scholz, who is leader of the SPD, said he would seek a vote of confidence by Jan. 15 so that MPs “can decide whether to clear the way for early elections.” These could take place as soon as March, six months earlier than scheduled.

Beneath this governmental instability there lies a deeper issue: the breakdown of the traditional duopoly of power between the SPD and the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union.

These parties have been the twin pillars of German politics since the end of the Second World War. But with the SPD now very unpopular and the direction of the CDU/CSU still uncertain since the end of Angela Merkel’s long chancellorship between 2005 and 2021, Germany appears to be moving from de facto two-party politics to a multiparty system. This is illustrated by the growing number of smaller parties that previously functioned as subsidiaries........

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