A campaign poster in Berlin for Angela Merkel, whose future as chancellor of Germany seemed all but certain after elections in September. Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

Germany is mired in a political crisis. Less than two months after what seemed to be an electoral victory, Chancellor Angela Merkel is struggling to form a government and has said that if she fails, she prefers new elections over a minority government. As Germany tries to find its way, here are some of our best stories about the country from recent months.

Ms. Merkel with other leaders at the Group of 7 summit meeting earlier this year. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Angela Merkel, Reluctant Leader of the West, ‘Has Gotten the Taste for It’

Angela Merkel has spent 12 years at the helm of the largest, richest country in Europe, but has never liked being “singled out or being put on a pedestal,” her biographer says. Faced with aggressive leaders in Russia, Turkey, Hungary, and Poland, she has had leadership thrust upon her, and become a more outspoken defender of human rights, sympathy toward refugees and the need to reduce carbon emissions

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Even as a generation of young Germans has grown up with a woman in the highest office, Ms. Merkel, in the campaign poster at rear, has shunned the word “feminist.” Gordon Welters for The New York Times

German Women Find Symbol, but Not Savior

Germany is one of the few world powers to be led by a woman, but Ms. Merkel’s prominence has not made as much impact on the country’s gender bias as some would have hoped for. Alice Schwarzer, the country’s best-known feminist, put it this way: “Since 2005, little girls can decide: Do I become a hairdresser — or chancellor?” Our correspondent Katrin Bennhold investigated this contradiction.

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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, right, with the German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, wearing a red tie, as he addressed the German Parliament in 2001. Angela Merkel, then the leader of the Christian Democrats, sat in the second row. Fritz Reiss/Associated Press

Putin and Merkel: A Rivalry of History, Distrust and Power

The relationship between President Vladimir V. Putin and Ms. Merkel is still only cordial, despite dozens of meetings and scores of telephone calls over the years. The rivalry between Mr. Putin and Ms. Merkel is a microcosm of their diverging visions for Europe.

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Alternative for Germany supporters at a party rally in April. Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

Far-Right Gains Leave Germans Wondering, What Now?

A surge in support for the far right in September’s election gave some Germans cause for introspection. Many believed that their country’s liberal democracy was unshakable, and for them, the nearly 13 percent of votes won by the Alternative for Germany party was a bitter pill to swallow.

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Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel, the leaders of Alternative for Germany, speaking with reporters in September outside the German Parliament. Michael Sohn/Associated Press

The Interpreter: What the Far Right’s Rise May Mean

Alternative for Germany is now the third-largest party in Parliament. Our Interpreter columnist Amanda Taub shared lessons from a year of covering right-wing populism to note the surprising social, institutional and political factors behind the party’s success — and its potential to change German politics in the future.

Watch: ‘I Have Problems With the Nazis and I Have Problems With the Police’

Ms. Merkel has called the integration of refugees a national duty. Our documentary followed Abode, who fled violence in Libya only to find a new kind of hatred in Germany.

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