Richard Bernstein

DW-WORLD: How is Germany doing in your opinion?

Richard Bernstein: For all the bad things you read -- about the economy, unemployment -- and for someone who has traveled quite a bit in Western countries, Germany seems a pretty well-ordered troubled country. Of course unemployment is a problem, but there may be a bit of a tendency amongst Germans to exaggerate the nature of their plight. From an American standpoint, the social problems seem manageable.

What needs to happen in Germany, to help speed up the country's recovery?

One of the striking things about the political mainstream parties, with the exception of the Linkspartei [the new Left Party] is, that they all agree the country badly needs thorough economic reform for Germany to become more competitive and to be able to afford itself. So the debate is not about whether reform is needed but of what kind and how radical. And there is no doubt that Germany has tremendous resources on which to build economic recovery -- highly skilled and educated individuals, a good infrastructure, technological knowledge.

But there needs to be more private responsibility. I would like to see greater development of a non-governmental civic society and a departure from this attitude that the state needs to take care of everything. I think this is also one of the reasons for the situation of the education system. The state can no longer finance free for all education. German universities are still very good but do not compare anymore with the top institutions in the US and Britain.

Gerhard Schröder or Angela Merkel? Who is your personal choice for chancellor? Why?

I don't have an answer to that.

What do you like about Germany?

I enjoy being here. Berlin is a wonderful city to live in. A great deal of 20th century history happened here and now Germany is struggling to make history of a different sort. It's fascinating to see how Germany looks back on its history and forward at the same time. Germans have reflected on their history more than any other country with dark stains such as Japan and the US.

What do you dislike about Germany?

I miss a quality of flamboyance and outspokenness in Germany. Political personalities are rather restrained, careful and sober. It's a country that lives cautiously.