Ms. Merkel is widely expected to win. Her re-election would reinforce her position as one of the most powerful women in the world, and a strong counterpart to President Trump in the United States and President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia.

Our reporter Katrin Bennhold took a look at how, despite Germany being led by Ms. Merkel for 12 years, the country has a woman problem (Sept. 13):

“It is a strange contradiction. Ms. Merkel embodies what feminists the world over have hoped to accomplish, but the rest of Germany has largely not caught up.”

What do Ms. Merkel and her enduring power mean for the world? After Mr. Trump’s victory last year, she emerged as the “last powerful defender of Europe and the trans-Atlantic alliance,” wrote Alison Smale and Steven Erlanger, then the Times bureau chiefs for Berlin and London. But that lonely post comes with challenges:

“Never before has so much ridden on the Germans,” said Simon Tilford, the deputy director of the Center for European Reform in London. “We’re very fortunate that Germany is led now by Merkel, because there is a chance she will step up and do what Europe needs her to do.” An increasingly divided Europe is looking to Germany, its richest power, to cope with its many problems, some of them longstanding: low growth, a continuing stream of refugees, and increasingly angry and nationalistic electorates.

We also took a look at Ms. Merkel and Mr. Trump, two powerful leaders “estranged by widely diverging temperaments, worldviews, leadership styles and visions of Europe.” Ms. Merkel — who, in more than 11 years in power, has “proved uncommonly adept at solving the puzzle-box challenges posed by the world’s most unpredictable leaders” — may realize there isn’t a method for dealing with Mr. Trump.

And to understand Ms. Merkel’s relationship with Mr. Putin, dig in to this comprehensive piece on their rivalry of history, distrust and power (Mar. 12) by Ms. Smale and Andrew Higgins, a Moscow correspondent.

The article includes a nugget about talks between the two leaders in 2007: Mr. Putin let his large black Labrador into their meeting room, after the Kremlin had been told that Ms. Merkel was uneasy around dogs.

A Deeper Dive Into German Issues