Things fall apart: Contemporary analyses of German economic and political developments

The traditional arrangements that made Germany stable and successful both economically and politically have crumbled of late. Recent work by leading scholars has struck a uniformly pessimistic tone regarding recent reform efforts. This article argues for a more nuanced assessment. Germany has proved quite capable of implementing reforms that proved more ambitious and effective than many scholars acknowledge. Wolfgang Streeck's attempt to invoke time to account for the erosion of coordinating mechanisms within the German economy falls short owing to a paucity of theory and data to buttress the argument. Poor economic performance is a far more straightforward explanation.