Blog Assignment 2 - Merkel, Plagiarists, and the Upcoming German Election

Annette Schavan, German Education Minister, Resigns Over PhD Plagiarism Scandal. ~GlobalPost
(http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/130209/annette-schavan-german-education-minister-resigns-plagiarism)

From this article I learned that the German education minister Annette Schavan was stripped of her PhD by the University of Dusseldorf for plagiarism last week.  I also discovered that this is not the first instance of plagiarism to strike Angela Merkel’s Cabinet.  In 2011 the former German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, resigned from his post after he was found to have plagiarized his doctoral thesis.  The article made sure to note Schavan’s hypocrisy for harshly admonishing Guttenberg in 2011 for his plagiarism when she seems to have been guilty of the same lapse in integrity.  According to the article, Schavan denies any wrongdoing and promises to retaliate through legal action.  Wrongly accused or not, Schavan finds it best to step down from Merkel’s Cabinet to avoid being a distraction.  Merkel’s Christian Democratic coalition claims that the PhD scandal is “a politically motivated set up” aiming to strip away some of the party’s credibility as elections approach in late September.

I think that Merkel’s Christian Democratic coalition calling this a set up to try and save face is a weak and silly claim.  There can be no mistaking that Schavan’s plagiarism scandal came during a politically crucial time. That said, for this to qualify as a set up the accusation of plagiarism against Schavan would have to be false.   I am going to have a hard time believing that the University of Dusseldorf would implement such a heavy handed ruling against the standing education minister unless they were absolutely certain.  Although I am not familiar with the current political climate in Germany as the elections approach, I have a feeling Merkel’s longstanding political position is growing harder and harder to retain.

To be honest, I'd feel and look as guilty as Schavan does here too if, because of me, it looked like my Prime Minister were wondering how many more plagiarists are in her cabinet.

Photo:
http://cdn2.spiegel.de/images/image-457249-panoV9free-vbjw.jpg