The party politics of national role contestation: Germany’s ‘traffic light’ coalition and the Russian war against Ukraine

Abstract

Addressing the German Bundestag in February 2022, Chancellor Scholz described the implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine as a Zeitenwende (‘watershed’) in international politics. Since then, Germany saw unprecedented changes in its foreign and security policy, overturning established policies and long-held beliefs. While these have been the subject of academic studies and political commentary, less attention has been paid to the domestic contestation of Germany’s national role in the wake of the Zeitenwende. Building on work in role theory and party politics, this article analyses the partisan contestation of German foreign policy role conceptions during the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens, and Liberals (2021–2024). The article provides evidence of both horizontal and vertical role contestation. The former takes place between government and opposition but also among the governing parties. The latter relates to contestation within political parties, from the public, but also—as a novel form of vertical role contestation—between the regional and federal level. Taken together, the article identifies considerable national role contestation below the surface of an apparent cross-party foreign policy consensus.