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01. April 2024

"You can't shake it off. But you can look ahead again." - The ministerial dismissals of Rudolf Scharping (SPD) in 2002 and Norbert Röttgen (CDU) in 2012 in comparative perspective The ministerial dismissals of Rudolf Scharping (SPD) and Norbert Röttgen (CDU) in comparative perspective

By Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schlie

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schlies' contribution provides a comparative historical analysis of the ministerial dismissals of Rudolf Scharping as Defense Minister by Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in July 2002 and of Norbert Röttgen as Environment Minister by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in May 2012.

Rücktritte von politischen Ämtern
Rücktritte von politischen Ämtern © SpringerVS
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The article places the ministerial resignations in the respective political and historical context, deals with the legal framework of ministerial resignations in German constitutional law, reconstructs the respective processes and, on this basis, attempts to draw conclusions about the respective motives and political calculations of Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel. In this way, the analysis can also be seen as a contribution to government practice and an illumination of the personal political style of these two German heads of government.

Ulrich Schlie, "Das kann man nicht abschütteln. Aber man kann den Blick wieder nach vorne richten.“ – Die Ministerentlassungen von Rudolf Scharping (SPD) im Jahr 2002 und von Norbert Röttgen (CDU) im Jahr 2012 in vergleichender Perspektive, in: Manuel Becker, Volker Kronenberg, Christopher Prinz (Ed.), Rücktritte von politischen Ämtern. Perspektiven auf das Ende von politischen Karrieren, Wiesbaden 2024, pp. 379-390.

Link to article.

Prof Dr. Ulrich Schlie is Director of the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) and Henry Kissinger Professor for Security and Strategy Research at the Institute for Political Science and Sociology.