The federal elections in Germany will be held on September 24, 2017. In this lecture we will take a look back on the German election campaign and try to explain the outcome of the election. Which topics did the parties highlight in their campaigns? What campaigning trends did we see in the 2017 German election? Which strategies did the candidates and the parties use to sell themselves to the voters and did their campaigns matter? How did the far-right do in the German election? Besides that, we will also discuss the ongoing coalition formation processes and the efforts of the German parties to now form a government after the election. Finally, we analyze what the result of the German election means for the European power play and Germany’s foreign policy towards their European neighbors as well as the US.

This lecture is part of German Campus Week and the ESC's Participation and Democracy Series.