Collective‑guilt Fuels Political Ennui

The doctrine of intergenerational collective guilt can act like a civic depressant: by making a whole polity identify itself primarily through a debt that can never be paid, it lowers public agency and appetite for political risk. That diminished civic confidence, the author argues, helps explain a tendency toward technocratic, low‑charisma leadership and political stasis in Germany, especially when combined with demographic and economic strains. — If true, this links historical‑memory politics to present governance outcomes — affecting leadership selection, policy ambition, European alliances and migration debates.