Why do German politicians so often stumble over Ph.D. plagiarism allegations?
Yet another German politician has resigned over allegedly plagiarizing their doctoral thesis. Who catches them out, and why is this a big deal in Germany?
Family Affairs Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) resigned over plagiarism allegations
The 43-year-old, who remains the Social Democrats candidate for Berlin mayor in this September s election, insists that she completed the thesis in 2009 in good conscience, though may have made mistakes.
This isn t a new kind of scandal for Germany. At least 20 respected German politicians have had aspersions cast on their academic integrity over the last ten years, including former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (who lost his Ph.D. and resigned in 2011), former Education Minister Annette Schavan (who lost her Ph.D. and resigned in 2013), and Vice President of theEuropean Parliament Silvana Koch-Mehrin (who lost her Ph.D. and resigned in 2011). �
Last modified on Sat 22 May 2021 15.25 EDT
When a political career ends in disgrace, it is usually over a dodgy backroom deal, an extramarital affair or rumours of a sordid sexual fetish. Not in Germany, where the darkest possible stain on a politician’s honour is a slapdash footnote in their doctoral thesis.
Or so it seems, after family minister Franziska Giffey last week became the third minister of a Merkel government to leave office over PhD plagiarism accusations, while the Green party’s candidate for the chancellery was forced to release her LSE degree certificate to fend off accusations she had inflated her intellectual credentials.
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The Social Democrat candidate standing for Berlin’s mayoral job in September’s election resigned from her ministerial post on Wednesday over claims she plagiarised her doctoral thesis, in a blow to the centre-left party.
“In the last few days, discussions have again arisen about my dissertation from 2010,” Franziska Giffey, families minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government, said in a statement.
She has therefore resigned from her ministerial post, she said, though she still intends to run as the SPD’s candidate to be the mayor of Berlin in elections in September.
Giffey, 43, has been dogged by claims of plagiarism since 2019, when the Free University of Berlin opened a probe into her doctoral thesis on European politics.