Dr. Joyce M Mushaben is a Curators’ Professor of Comparative Politics and Gender Studies here at UMSL. She received her PhD from Indiana University. Dr. Mushaben is an expert in German studies and speaks German fluently. She has authored many books, including her most recent work Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic. She also recently visited Germany for their elections. Here is a brief interview that one of our ambassadors held with Dr. Mushaben.
Q: What brought you to the German elections?
A: I have been going to the German elections virtually every year since 1990. 1989-90 is when the Berlin Wall fell, but the first all-German elections didn’t happen until after the wall had fallen. East Germans had already voted to annex themselves to West Germany. No one thought this would come back to haunt them 27 years later, but that does appear to be the case right now. The one thing that makes this possible, that I stress over and over again, is learn a foreign language. It is my fluency in German that has gotten me all kinds of grants, not only before the wall fell, but certainly after the wall fell.
Q: You’ve written books about a variety of German topics. What prompted you to write about Chancellor Merkel?A: I’m the only one writing whole books on Angela Merkel in the United States as well as Great Britain. None of the German feminist scholars want to write about this woman, because, yes, she is the first woman chancellor and she’s the first Easterner and most West German scholars don’t understand East Germany or how it used to function very well. Just as importantly, she was a member of the conservative party. Many people support her, but not her party.
Q: How has Angela Merkel overcome the challenges of being the first woman chancellor?A: One of the reasons she was able to run in her first election was because all of her rivals in the CDU party had fallen on their own swords. They all like to blame her and call her the “Black Widow Spider,” but she just stood there and didn’t shoot off her mouth and thought her way through various incidents and watched as they knocked each other out of the competition. In her first campaign, they never touched woman’s or gender issues, contrary to what was expected. She was very popular. In the second campaign, they didn’t need to address issues, they just showed more Merkel. She never called herself a feminist and looked at society holistically. She takes a pragmatic approach rather than an ideological approach; what’s more important, getting the credit passing laws or actually passing laws?
Q: As young women preparing to enter the workforce, whether business, politics or sciences, what lessons can we learn from Angela Merkel?A: First, be pragmatic and work with anyone who has knowledge of an issue and, second, work with anyone who is willing to work with you. Understand that problems have to be solved holistically and pay attention to the future. Angela Merkel was a physicist before becoming a politician, so she knows how to be logical. Be able to think through a problem, and also be willing to admit your mistakes. Don’t worry about taking credit for getting things done; get things done.
Q: What advice do you have for students entering the workforce?A: Really think globally and be diverse. You have to be tolerant and understand how to deal with conflict. Learn another language!
Q: You’ve written books about a variety of German topics. What prompted you to write about Chancellor Merkel?A: I’m the only one writing whole books on Angela Merkel in the United States as well as Great Britain. None of the German feminist scholars want to write about this woman, because, yes, she is the first woman chancellor and she’s the first Easterner and most West German scholars don’t understand East Germany or how it used to function very well. Just as importantly, she was a member of the conservative party. Many people support her, but not her party.
Q: How has Angela Merkel overcome the challenges of being the first woman chancellor?A: One of the reasons she was able to run in her first election was because all of her rivals in the CDU party had fallen on their own swords. They all like to blame her and call her the “Black Widow Spider,” but she just stood there and didn’t shoot off her mouth and thought her way through various incidents and watched as they knocked each other out of the competition. In her first campaign, they never touched woman’s or gender issues, contrary to what was expected. She was very popular. In the second campaign, they didn’t need to address issues, they just showed more Merkel. She never called herself a feminist and looked at society holistically. She takes a pragmatic approach rather than an ideological approach; what’s more important, getting the credit passing laws or actually passing laws?
Q: As young women preparing to enter the workforce, whether business, politics or sciences, what lessons can we learn from Angela Merkel?A: First, be pragmatic and work with anyone who has knowledge of an issue and, second, work with anyone who is willing to work with you. Understand that problems have to be solved holistically and pay attention to the future. Angela Merkel was a physicist before becoming a politician, so she knows how to be logical. Be able to think through a problem, and also be willing to admit your mistakes. Don’t worry about taking credit for getting things done; get things done.
Q: What advice do you have for students entering the workforce?A: Really think globally and be diverse. You have to be tolerant and understand how to deal with conflict. Learn another language!
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