The new Green Party leaders Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour have neither university degrees nor professional qualifications. The phenomenon also exists in other parties. But with what credibility do such politicians want to promote advancement through education?
Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang are the new party leaders of the Greens.
Oliver Maksan, editor of the NZZ in Germany
You are reading an excerpt from the weekday newsletter “The Other View”, published today by Oliver Maksan, editor of the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” in Germany. Subscribe to the newsletter for free. Not resident in Germany? Benefit here.
The Greens elected a new dual leadership at the weekend. Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour differentiate between gender, age and location in the internal party coordinate system. What they have in common, however, is that they have neither completed their studies nor have any other professional qualifications. The Abitur is the highest formal educational qualification on both CVs. The 28-year-old Lang has also gained no professional experience outside of politics. After all, the 46-year-old Nouripour mentions freelance work for a newspaper and freelance consulting work before entering the German Bundestag in 2006.
However, the reference to this is not suitable for quick green bashing. Because this development can also be found in the top personnel of other parties. Kevin Kühnert, the new Secretary General of the SPD, is known to have dropped out of two courses. Even with the middle-class competition, Paul Ziemiak was able to become General Secretary of the CDU without having completed his law studies. And in neighboring Austria, Sebastian Kurz made it to the top without being able to show a university degree.
Education assigns place in society
Certainly, a degree in this or that subject says nothing about the political ability of a member of parliament or a party official. He must be able to familiarize himself with a wide variety of areas. Politics is something different than specialist speakers. And nobody would deny a Kühnert his political talent. He is able to set topics, to convince rhetorically and to organize majorities.
In doing so, Kühnert and Co. meet the criteria set out by former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker: “In our country, a professional politician is generally neither an expert nor a dilettante, but a generalist with the specialist knowledge of how to fight political opponents.” You don’t have to read it disparagingly. It describes well the demands that democratic processes place on political personnel.
Nevertheless, it damages the reputation of the political class when, of all things, representatives of the people and party functionaries who have a significant influence on opinion-forming reach the top without having formally acquired what gives the individual a place in bourgeois society: education and training. From the point of view of the represented, the lack of qualifications among the representatives creates a two-class society. What credibility should such politicians use to promote advancement through education?
Parliamentary cast-off is imminent
Almost more problematic than the lack of formal qualifications is the absence of any work experience outside of politics. It takes independence and increases conformity when there are no professional alternatives beyond the party and parliament. Nothing has a more disciplining effect on the party politician who doubts the given line than the reference to the place on the list.
Against this background, the entry of a strikingly large number of young and youngest members of parliament into the new Bundestag should not only be applauded without hesitation. Of course, they bring new perspectives. Nevertheless, the seamless transition from party structures to parliament should not become the norm. Otherwise there is a risk of parliamentary cast-off.