Marcus Colla
![Marcus Colla](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/pictures/163406-marcus-colla.jpg)
Biography
Publications
Marcus Colla is Mark Kaplanoff Research Fellow in History at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the history of modern Germany and Eastern Europe.
![Germany’s enigmatic East and the fate of Europe’s right-wing populists](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-1164779794.jpg?itok=jQ6bzCva)
Germany’s enigmatic East and the fate of Europe’s right-wing populists
The far-right gained at weekend elections, but only in a cycle of division that leaves politics increasingly fragmented.
![The burden of friendship: Germany, Trump and NATO](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/48000846871_e92ea32153_o.jpg?itok=H00FXVHO)
The burden of friendship: Germany, Trump and NATO
Germany earns a special ire in the President’s complaints, but Berlin sees less challenge in dollars and more in trust.
![A certain boredom? Taking stock of democracy in 2019](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/22763192807_636faef531_k.jpg?itok=U_yY9XER)
A certain boredom? Taking stock of democracy in 2019
The anger directed against liberal democratic institutions today is so rarely attached to any specific objectives.
![The Merkel legacy – a study in shades](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-451898378-min.jpg?itok=gRPwqupy)
The Merkel legacy – a study in shades
Success and failure mark all careers in high office. Angela Merkel could often persuade, but not always inspire.
![Germany: A tale of two conservatisms](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/angela%20und%20horst.jpg?itok=wyqv3Yjt)
Germany: A tale of two conservatisms
Merkel is facing a slow moving political crisis caused by a schism between mainstream and far-right conservatism.
![The ever-widening Atlantic](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/22030636918_d230f2d210_k-mini.jpg?itok=IQIjU3Q9)
The ever-widening Atlantic
Battening hatches and waiting for the Trump storm to pass is hardly a pragmatic solution to concerns of a world in flux.
![AfD and the politics of German identity](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/Reichstag%203.jpg?itok=apGQPITJ)
AfD and the politics of German identity
The far-right party Alternative für Deutschland is rattling the Bundestag by pushing identity to the centre of German politics.
![Germany gets a government](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-926299798mini2.jpg?itok=yjvP7fsl)
Germany gets a government
The next four years may prove to be the most transformative period in German politics for some time.
![The unending nightmare for Germany’s Social Democrats](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-908332796-min.jpg?itok=YF5q5tT7)
The unending nightmare for Germany’s Social Democrats
The coming days and weeks will be a period of great uncertainty in Berlin and, by extension, Europe.