Il rafforzamento del capo del governo durante la pandemia di Covid-19: il caso di Angela Merkel

Combining literatures on the presidentialization of politics and political crisis leadership, this article analyzes the way in which the German Chancellor Angela Merkel managed the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Moreover, it investigates the impact, if any, of the crisis on the ‘monocratization’ of German executive politics. The findings show that Merkel was successful in personalizing crisis management. In particular, she took advantage of a process (albeit relative) of monocratization, which had been characterizing Germany for some years. The outcome has been the enhancement of the informal policy-making power of the chief executive.