A Research On The Path And Motivation Of Merkel’s Government Participation In Global Health Governance

Germany is a "latecomer" in the field of global health governance.After more than a decade of development,Germany has become an important participant and one of veritable"leaders" in the field of global health governance.WHO has on many occasions recognized Germany’s leadership in supporting and assuming responsibility for global health.Based on the discussion of the transformation of Germany’s health governance identity,this paper proposes the core question:How can the Merkel’s government strengthen and consolidate Germany’s leadership in global health governance?According to the official documents of the federal government and relevant governance data,the Merkel government’s participation in global health governance is characterized by stages and its realization path and motivation are unique.This paper is divided into four parts.The first chapter briefly introduces the general situation of global health governance,clarifies the definition and development process of global health governance and at the same time observes Germany’s early practice in global health governance.The second part focuses on the participation process of Merkel ’s government in global health governance and analyzes its stage characteristics.The third part explores the path for Merkel’s government to join in and strengthen health governance leadership at the global and EU levels.The fourth part tries to explain Germany’s deep participation in health governance from the external and internal levels.According to the different characteristics of Germany’s participation in global health governance,this paper divides the whole process into three stages.The first phase is the initial phase of Chancellor Merkel’s participation in global health governance during her first and second years,from 2005 to 2013.During this period,Merkel’s government had limited participation in the creation of global health mechanism,global health governance and crossborder health issues were still not in the top-level design.The second phase,from 2014 to 2017,roughly coincides with the third term of Chancellor Merkel,namely Germany’s accelerated participation in global health governance.From the perspective of the international environment,the high fatality rate and infection rate of the Ebola epidemic force the international community to think about how to deal with the global health crisis.At the same time,Merkel’s government is facing a foreign policy reshuffle and successive presidencies of the G7 and G20.Guided by an active foreign and security policy,Germany accelerated the shaping of the global health agenda through the platforms of the G7 and G20.The third phase is 2018-2021,when the Merkel government deeply involved in global health governance.During this period,the federal government reformed the relevant departments and institutions of global health,expanded the input to relevant projects and issued the first global health governance strategy in 2020 to guide Germany’s in-depth participation in global health governance.From the perspective of implementation path,Merkel’s government usually participates in global health governance at both the international and EU levels by means of innovative financial instruments,fi rm political commitment as well as exchange of advanced technologies.At the international level,Merkel’s government has expanded international health cooperation in three ways:supporting multilateral health cooperation with WHO at its core,promoting the health agenda of G7 and G20 and building a global health network centered in Berlin.At the EU level,in view of the negative impact of COVID-19,the Merkel government took the opportunity of the rotating presidency to strengthen health management in the EU and promote medical and health research exchanges within the EU,leading the EU to unite and effectively fight the epidemic.The Merkel government has been constantly involved in global health governance due to various factors.On the one hand,the increasingly complex impact of global health issues and the leadership of global health governance are external factors that urge Merkel’s government to pay attention to health affairs.Due to the interweaving of health and political and economic spheres,global health issues have a significant negative impact on regional and global health,economic,social and security,and significantly increase the cost of global health governance.At the same time,the international community is looking to Germany to fill some of the leadership vacuum created by the noncooperation of the United States.On the other hand,developing the German health economy and conforming to the cultural values of German health also gave the Merkel government the internal motivation to expand the practice of health governance.This coincides with the orientation of German foreign policy adjustment in 2014,Germany will assume more international responsibilities.COVID-19 has made China aware of the need to participate in global health governance.It is urgent to think about how to better provide Chinese solutions to the world.The precedent of Germany’s participation in global health governance may provide a new perspective.