Overview

Gerhard Schröder was the last SPD chancellor. He was always a controversial figure within his party. To some, he was a self-centered individual and a careerist; to others, he was a gifted campaigner and a successful modernizer. It is undisputed that his popularity played a decisive role in helping the SPD seize power in 1998. But what remains of the Red-Green coalition project that came to such an abrupt end in 2005? The Agenda reforms? The energy transition? The SPD’s identity crisis? Since Gerhard Schröder’s defeat by Angela Merkel in 2005, the party has been in decline; the label “people’s party” no longer seems to apply. What responsibility does the SPD’s most recent chancellor bear for this decline? How did the unprecedented Agenda 2010 reform program come about in the first place?