End of 2021 Brings Changes in World Leadership
Image Courtesy of The Japan Times
By Chris Carey
While domestic issues such as the debt ceiling and the threat of defaulting on loans for the first time in American history have monopolized the news in preceding weeks, there are two major shake-ups in the world’s power structure as Angela Merkel’s term as Chancellor of Germany nears its end and Fumio Kishida is elected as Prime Minister of Japan.
On October 4, 2021, Japan held its elections for Prime Minister. This followed Yoshihide Suga’s decision to step down from the position after his approval ratings continuously dropped due to his management of the coronavirus pandemic response in Japan.
Prime Minister Kishida rose victorious through a three-way race on September 29 for the leadership of the ruling party: the Liberal Democratic Party. Initially, Kishida, who previously served as Foreign Minister, was regarded as a moderate and not terribly appealing candidate; however, his style of consensus building, past history as an effective international leader and figure, and appeal as an individual who is not Yoshihide Suga let him prevail within his own party, which enjoys a majority in the Japanese Parliament.
In one of his first actions following his election on Monday, Prime Minister Kishida called national elections for Parliament on October 31 while affirming his commitment to handling the pandemic and continuing consensus building.
Meanwhile, far from the formation of a new government in Japan, Germany is experiencing a shift from the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel and her more conservative government to her likely successor Finance Minister Olaf Schulz and his slightly left-leaning faction of Greens, Free Democrats, and Social Democrats.
This new change in leadership occurred after the parliamentary elections on September 26 and after the Greens and Free Democrats approached the Social Democratic Party. In that same election, although no party won sufficient seats to form a singular government, the Social Democratic Party won enough to narrowly beat out Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party.
Merkel and her party have controlled the German government for the past 16 years. Her term has spanned the administrations of Presidents George Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden. A globally renowned leader and figure, Merkel has defined much of the leadership of the European Union during her tenure due to Germany’s strong government and economy.
Further, Merkel, even in her last year in office, has a high international regard according to Pew Research Center. Public opinion for Merkel across the world is at its all-time high, a rarity in a world where approval ratings rise and fall with each news cycle and reorganization of governments. According to the same research report, more global players regard Merkel more highly than Joe Biden of the United States, Emmanuel Macron of France, Xi Xinping of China, and Vladimir Putin of Russia.
In short, this global change in the leadership of Germany, a stable economic and international power, may bring some worldwide unrest as the constant presence of Angela Merkel on the international stage comes to an end after 16 years.
In both Germany and Japan, the changes in leadership signify challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as calls for new faces in positions of power.
