THE most successful woman leader of a major democracy in the 21st century is inarguably Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor for 16 years. After she stepped down in 2021, she was so popular that Merkel-like governing traits, like circumspection and consensus-building, were required of the next German leader. How a leader so staid, plain-looking and uncomplaining captured the hearts and minds of the German people that once turned to a murderous demagogue for leadership, was perhaps the result of Merkel's other side — a trained scientist who governed with quiet efficiency and competence.
That she was 35 years old, living and working as a scientist on the East German side when the wall crumbled and the reunification of Germany's east and west followed made her regard for liberal democracy — and the freedom and the tolerance that come under that governing order — almost reverential.
