Member-only story
Europe’s pandemic and the price of solidarity
The Covid-19 crisis has revealed the full extent of Europe’s power imbalance
If ever there was a reluctant power, surely it is Germany: a nation that has grappled with its past and still restively searches for understanding. A nation that has worked hard to unite two economically and politically disparate halves that even today can feel like different countries.
Since reunification in 1989, Europe has believed desperately in Germany’s rehabilitation as a global power. Somehow, Germany’s redemption was Europe’s redemption: something necessary for the continent to move on from the destruction wrought by centuries of war.
Restoring the Germany of enlightenment values and scientific achievement was fundamental to the broader European identity, which has always been shaped by bursts of romanticist pride. These have manifested themselves often in a moderate liberal nationalism, and sometimes in a darker, more intolerant, more resentful form.
That the whole of Europe indulged in ecstatic forms of political culture at some point or other is reflected in the artwork and literature produced throughout the span of the 19th century. Jacques-Louis David’s majestic portrait of Napoleon atop his horse, pointing the way through the Alpine pass as men haul…
