However, induction of scientific views into politics was natural for someone like Merkel with her scientific background. Politics and the responsibilities of holding public offices fall beyond the domain of science. However, science and politics are different – Merkel knows that well. Not to ignore that German researchers could invent the first diagnostic test for Covid-19 and their success in mRNA technology-based vaccines is also noteworthy. These pay dividends through innovations during crises which were evident in Germany’s fight against Covid. These drove initiatives such as a €2 billion program in quantum computing and related technologies and a 3-5% increase in research and university funding every year since 2006. Her approach to evidence-based lockdown certainly enhanced her popularity in Germany.Ĭhancellor Merkel prioritised regular ‘innovation’ talks with working scientists and research managers, in up-and-coming fields such as hydrogen technology, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. She clearly outlined to Germans that ‘R’ must remain below 1. She explained the ‘reproduction number’, R, and stated that a value of 1.1 would overwhelm the German health system by October, 1.2 by July, and 1.3 by June. At a press conference in April 2020, Angela Merkel used her science background to deftly explain how the coronavirus spreads so quickly. “Merkel brought compassion and an insistence – unusual among politicians, even in the time of Covid-19 – that decision-making benefits from evidence,” Nature acknowledged. However, the Covid-19 pandemic made her popularity surging.ĭue to her profound scientific background, Merkel could easily emerge beyond a commander-in-chief to become a scientist-in-chief of her country during the pandemic. Merkel’s response and leadership performance during the refugee crisis were largely seen through the lens of the concept of ‘conviction leadership’.Įver since 2018, when Merkel has announced that she would not contest for the chancellorship in the 2021 elections and also announced to stand down as the leader of her Christian Democratic Union party, many people had preferred to consider her a lame duck. While most of the world leaders were afraid of the massive human infiltration during the 2015 Syrian crisis, Merkel’s statement “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do it”) became a part of folklore, for sure. While the first and the last of these three were mostly driven by her scientific conviction, the wave of refugees in 2015 – mostly from Syria – has largely framed her legacy. Merkel, the undisputed queen of Europe, has led Germany for 16 long years at a stretch, through a global economic crash, a migrant crisis, and most recently a ravaging pandemic. “The departing German chancellor’s support for science and rigour in policymaking has proved transformative – except on climate change,” the Nature article opined. For it’s not quite often that someone having a sound scientific career and a PhD in quantum chemistry reaches the helm of the largest economy of Europe. A scientific journal of this stature paying tribute to a retiring leader is not quite common, but not surprising. In the backdrop of the just-concluded German elections that marked the end of the Merkel-era, an article titled Politics will be poorer without Angela Merkel’s scientific approach was published in the renowned science journal Nature.
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