Introduction: the German federal election 2021—negotiating a new era

This chapter sets out the background and context of the 2021 federal election. It examines the polls, the performance of political parties in state elections, the campaigns and the strategic opportunities for smaller parties. It argues that the German political system has changed and that there is a new era that voters, parties and governments are negotiating. These changes created one of the most open and closely fought elections in the post-war era. The volume traces this through four key sections: electoral behaviour; parties and the party system; foreign relations; and political issues. Although foreign relations were not substantively important during the election, the subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine created a profoundly challenging set of geo-political realities that the tripartite government is negotiating. As these four sections remain critical areas of scholarly debate, the chapter thus provides a lens through which contemporary German politics may be viewed.