Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country

One of my summer reading books was “Why the Germans Do it Better” by John Kampfner. The book is somewhat mistitled because much of it is taken up with the history of political developments in Germany since the Second World War. That is interesting but it does also cover why Germany has been so successful in developing its economy since it was destroyed in the war years.This is a short extract from the book: “On the eve of the currency reform and lifting of price controls [by Ludwig Erhard], industrial production was about half of its level in 1936. By the end of 1948 it had risen to 80 per cent. In 1958, industrial production was four times higher it had been just one decade earlier. By 1968, barely two decades after the end of the war that had left the country in ruins, West Germany’s economy was larger than that of the UK. The trend continued remorselessly. In 2003, it became the largest exporter to Eastern Europe. In 2005, it surpassed the US as the leading source of machinery imports into India. It is the largest exporter of vehicles to China. Most impressively, in 2003, Germany overtook the US to become the biggest total exporter of goods in the world”.Why do we in the UK import so many German cars and other products. Just looking around my own house we have a Siemens refrigerator, a Bosch kettle, dishwasher and washing machine, an AEG cooker and I just bought a Braun electric razor. Like many readers no doubt, all of our domestic appliances are German apart from a Japanese bread maker.The UK used to be a leading industrial manufacturer and although our car industry is not as moribund as it used to be, it is still only below tenth in the world for vehicle production while Germany is fourth.Why has the UK become deindustrialised and in practice become primarily a service economy? Education is part of the problem but as Mr Kampfner makes clear, it is also an issue of how we organise our companies. Comparative productivity shows we have fallen well behind with GDP per capita now only 85% of Germany’s.In Germany there seems to be a stronger consensus between management and employees with employee representatives on the supervisory boards. The culture of companies is different in essence.Mr Kampfner’s book highlights many of the differences and points to how the UK should rethink some of its educational and corporate structures if we are improve our productivity. It’s well worth reading for that alone.But it is also a good primer on political developments in Germany, written by someone who knows both Germany and the UK well.

Journalist John Kampfner’s survey of post-war and modern Germany covers a lot of ground, addressing German culture, business, domestic politics, economics, foreign policy, environmental attitudes and more. His central thesis is reflected in the title: regardless of the challenge, Germany is almost always the grown-up in the room. While other countries flounder and flap, pursue irresponsible short-term goals, make a show of strutting on the world stage, Germany walks a different path: sober, measured, forward-looking, responsible, compassionate. In particular, Kampfner draws a sharp and unflattering contrast with the UK and its current government. As the Germans quietly got on with 21st century life, the UK – or at least a significant proportion of Britons – are still mired in past glories, banging on about the war, voting in leaders full of absurd bombast.With a skilful blending of personal anecdote, case studies and statistics, Kampfner argues that there is a distinctly German way of doing things. It’s a profoundly socialist way of thinking: not in the sense of a fiscal or political philosophy, but in the sense of individuals having a deep sense of the wider community, of living in a way that considers others.I have one gripe with the book. Many of its arguments are built on unexamined assumptions and values. Germany is judged to be better because its values align with those the author assumes to be superior, and assumes his audience will judge to be superior. For example, one of Kampfner’s caveats to German success is the growth of populism and the right wing. Populism is always viewed as a dark spectre to be resisted, rather than a democratic movement that expresses what the majority actually want. It’s not that I necessarily disagree with the author, but it irritates me that he assumes we know who the good guys and bad guys are. I guess this is inevitable in a book that’s making a case, rather than trying to be an academic text.That aside, this was an engaging, often eye-opening read. It’s never a trudge, wearing its research lightly. I enjoyed it, and I’m tempted to read his apparently authoritative 'Blair’s Wars', though I suspect his less-than-neutral stance would put me off.