BERLIN — Germany is troubled. Its democracy is being tested. Its two big traditional parties, right and left, are shrinking fast. Angela Merkel, its powerful chancellor of 14 years, is a lame duck.

So when her chosen successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, announced on Monday that she would step aside, it was Ms. Merkel’s defeat, too. And perhaps one for her country and all of Europe.

Monday’s announcement reinforced a profound sense of malaise and political limbo in Germany at a time when neighboring capitals are impatiently looking to Berlin for leadership in a post-Brexit Europe.

Now faced with a difficult succession struggle, the country is grappling with an uncomfortable sense of déjà-vu, as the growing power of the far right echoes the rise of the Nazis in the last century.