The revenge of the village? The geography of right-wing populist electoral success, anti-politics, and austerity in Germany

2020 ◽  
pp. 239965442095180
Author(s):  
Maximilian Förtner ◽  
Bernd Belina ◽  
Matthias Naumann
Keyword(s):  
Large City ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
The Right ◽  
German Parliament ◽  
The Village

This paper discusses the geography of the electoral successes of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the national election to the German parliament in September 2017. Unlike other studies that reduce the electoral pattern to differences between “the city” and “the country,” we do not accept the empirical observation of an urban-rural divide as a sufficient explanation. By doing so, this paper proposes a theorization of the urban and the rural as social relationships that can be dialectically differentiated through the all-encompassing urbanization process and which materialize through space. This approach draws on Henri Lefebvre’s work on urbanization and his understanding of “the urban” and “the rural” and integrates it with Theodor W. Adorno’s notion of “the provincial” to better characterize “the rural” as a form of social relationship in which the culturally familiar, authenticity, and a lack of difference and reflection dominate. Recent theoretical discussions of anti-politics—understood as both a mode of making political claims and a political strategy that negates arguments, negotiations, and compromise, starting instead with absolute, non-negotiable positions— inform this paper as well. Based on this theoretical foundation, we argue that the rural is the breeding ground for anti-politics and AfD votes. A discussion of three places where the AfD was particularly successful supports our argument: the more peripheral, small-town administrative district of Western Pomerania-Greifswald and the two large-city districts of Mannheim-Schönau and Pforzheim-Haidach.

Introduction: Configuring the Green New Deal

2021 ◽  
pp. 103530462110176
Author(s):  
Anna Sturman ◽  
Natasha Heenan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
Political Project ◽  
The Right

We introduce a themed collection of articles on approaches to configuring a Green New Deal as a response to the current capitalist crisis marked by ecological breakdown, economic stagnation and growing inequality. The Green New Deal is a contested political project, with pro-market, right-wing nationalist, Keynesian, democratic socialist and ecosocialist variants. Critiques of the Green New Deal include pragmatic queries as the feasibility of implementation, and theoretical challenges from the right regarding reliance on state forms and from the left regarding efforts to ameliorate capitalism. They also include concerns about technocratic bias and complaints about lack of meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples on proposals for large-scale shifts in land use. Debates over the ideological orientation, political strategy and implementation of the Green New Deal must now account for the economic and employment impacts of COVID. JEL Codes: Q43, Q54, Q56, Q58

Crossing the left-right party divide? Understanding the electoral success of the Czech Pirate Party in the 2017 parliamentary elections

Politics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Maškarinec
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Spatial Perspective ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The Right ◽  
Leftist Parties ◽  
Spatial Support

In the 2017 Czech parliamentary election, the Czech Pirate Party (Pirates) gained 10.79% of the votes – an unprecedented success, compared to most of the pirate parties across Europe. However, as their electoral gain varies widely across the Czech Republic’s territory, this article analyses all (more than 6000) Czech municipalities in the elections of 2010, 2013, and 2017 to explain this variation. Overall, the success of the Pirates was driven especially by obtaining much more support in larger municipalities with younger populations (although not only those aged 18–24 but also older ones), lower unemployment, higher turnout, and lower support for leftist parties. Thus, from a spatial perspective, the patterns of Pirate voting largely resembled long-term spatial support for Czech rightist parties and we can conclude that the Pirates made considerable inroads to regions which had historically been strongholds of the Civic Democratic Party, as the former main party of the right, but also strongholds of minor right-wing (‘liberal centre’) parties of the 1990s and early 2000s. Success of the Pirates thus was based especially on votes from municipalities located in more developed areas, where the Pirates received many more votes than in structurally disadvantaged regions.

The BJP and an Ideological Consolidation of the Right?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep K. Chhibber ◽  
Rahul Verma
Keyword(s):  
Right Wing ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
The Social ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
The Right ◽  
Potential Challenge

To the surprise of many, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) singlehandedly won a majority in the national elections of 2014. Since then the party which, once had two seats in parliament, has come to govern 21 states in India. How did the BJP become so successful? The BJP is now the principal carrier of conservatism in India. This was not the case at independence. The ideological roots of the BJP lie in the idea of Hindu majoritarianism. Over the years the BJP succeeded in accommodating conservative elements not only from the Congress but also from other right-wing parties. Its electoral success has been aided by the social and economic changes in India since the 1990s. These changes, however, have also generated contradictions within the ideological coalitions that brought about the rise of the BJP and pose a potential challenge to the party as it moves to consolidate its position.

From a Five to a Six-Party System? Prospects of the Right-wing Extremist NPD

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Decker ◽  
Lazaros Miliopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Nazi Ideology ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

Right-wing extremist and populist parties operate in a rather difficult social and political environment in Germany, rendering notable electoral success fairly improbable, especially when compared to other European countries. The main reason for this is the continuing legacy of the Nazi past. Nevertheless the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) managed to gain substantial votes in recent Land elections and became the leading force in the right-wing extremist political camp. Its success is attributable to rightwing extremist attitudes in some parts of the electorate in connection with a widespread feeling of political discontent. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether the NPD will be able to transform these attitudes into a viable ideological basis for two main reasons. On the one hand, maintaining a neo-Nazi ideology makes the NPD unattractive to many potential voters. On the other hand, given its internal power struggles and severe financial problems, the party may be unable to meet its challenges in organizational terms.

Denmark's weak new government faces complex alliances

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Content Type ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The Right

Significance The new government will have only 34 of the 179 seats, because policy differences among the right-wing parties, and the political strategy of the electorally strengthened anti-immigration, Euro-sceptic Danish People's Party (DF), mean DF will remain outside. Policy-making will be difficult. The government will be more economically liberal and pro-EU than it would have been with DF, but to make policy it will rely on partners across the political spectrum, especially the ousted Social Democrats -- who remain the largest party -- and DF. Impacts If DF is seen as a welfarist protector of ordinary citizens, it is more likely to repeat, at least, its 22% vote in the next election. The much-tighter immigration regime which is in prospect could taint Denmark's image and make it less attractive to foreign investment. The new government is likely to be an ally for much of UK Prime Minister David Cameron's EU reform agenda.

scholarly journals Explaining the end of Spanish exceptionalism and electoral support for Vox

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205316801985168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
Regional Elections

The 2018 regional elections in Andalucía marked the end of Spain’s exceptional status as a country with a party system free from the radical right. The electoral success of the radical right-wing challenger, Vox, who gained 11% of the vote and 12 seats in the regional parliament, brought this exceptionalism to an end. This paper analyses the individual-level determinants that explain the electoral success of Vox and the emergence of the radical right within the Spanish party system. The results indicate that concerns over devolution, likely engendered by the Catalan separatist crisis, predominantly explain voters’ preferences for the right-wing challenger. This is true both amongst the general electorate as well as amongst the former voters of other right-wing parties. Significantly, against popular assumptions and empirical observations explaining the rise of radical right-wing parties across much of Western Europe, the results display no empirical link between immigration and electoral support for Vox.

scholarly journals THE GENESIS OF THE CONCEPT OF URBAN-RURAL TERRITORY AND ITS ESSENTIAL DIMENSION

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Boiko
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large City ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Economic Balance ◽  
Logistics Process ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City

The article deals with theoretical issues of development of urban areas. Usually, urban-rural territory is defined as an idea and phenomenon, which expresses the rejection of the antinomy of the city and the village, their too rigid "physical", or landscape and social distribution. So, the city, the countryside and the space between them are considered as one. It should be noted that strong links of different nature - economic, social, political, cultural, recreational, etc. - are formed between the city and the village. In powerful urban-rural formations exist peripheral suburbs, which allows to combine urban life with rural. Urban-rural territory is a space consisting of several components, namely a large city, smaller cities or towns, villages and their environment. It is considered that the transition from the city center to the province occurs through the middle link - the periphery. The most important driving force behind urban-rural areas is the increase due to population migration to cities and vice versa. This is explained by finding opportunities to meet their own needs. In this context, it should be noted that migrations, especially if they are permanent, are determined by the intensity of the urban-rural connections. They are a consequence of the logistics process. Logistic level can be estimated by agglomerative links. So, urban-rural area is not only a system consisting of geographical space and settlements. At first, it is a system of connections that create a supportive framework of interaction between settlements in time and space, which is determined by various factors such as migration, economic balance, financial flows, environment and more.

scholarly journals Political terror and the right-wing movement (The case of Vladimir Governorate)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 690-742
Author(s):  
Igor' V. Omel'yanchuk
Keyword(s):  
Police Department ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Vladimir Oblast ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Familiar World ◽  
Political Terror ◽  
The Government ◽  
Defiant Behavior ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Village

The article examines the street confrontation of October 1905 which went down in history as Jewish pogroms. The source base of the work comprises the documents of the police department deposited in the State Archive of Vladimir Oblast and the materials from periodicals of various political leanings. After the publication of the Manifesto of the 17th of October, 1905, in the streets of Russian cities, the revolutionary demonstrations whose participants viewed the Manifesto as a signal for a decisive assault on the autocracy clashed with the patriotic manifestations held by those who wanted to defend their familiar world. The defiant behavior of opposition supporters who preached their political ideals and in doing so insulted national and religious feelings of the conservative strata of population provoked street excesses, which then turned into bloody clashes. The situation was aggravated by the inaction of the local authorities who had not received timely instructions from St Petersburg and showed confusion during the first “days of freedom.” Thus, the pogroms of October 1905 which took place outside the Pale of Settlement were directed not so much against the Jews as against the revolutionaries (a considerable part of them were Jews). Contrary to the idea prevailing in historiography that the clashes of October 1905 were organized, the pogroms arose spontaneously. Neither the government, which was prostrate, nor the right-wing parties, the numerical composition of which in Russia at that time was measured by several thousand people, initiated or organized those events. In October 1905, there were no monarchist organizations in Vladimir Governorate at all. However, the supporters of autocracy are responsible for two political murders which occurred after the pogroms in November–December 1905. In Ivanovo-Voznesensk the crowd infuriated with the events of recent months tore to pieces a revolutionary woman who was transporting weapons, and in the village of Undol workers killed an agitator who called for the overthrow of autocracy. After the foundation of monarchist organizations in Vladimir Governorate, street clashes between the opponents and the supporters of autocracy gradually died down because the monarchists got an opportunity to defend their political convictions in a more civilized form. Although the conflicts between persons of opposite political views continued for some time, they were more like domestic quarrels and had no victims. Both sides were equally responsible for those incidents.

POLISH PARLIAMENTARY POLL ‒ 2015; 2019: POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS OF THE SUCCESS OF AUTHORITARIAN POPULISM OF LAW AND JUSTICE (PIS)

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
T.E. MIRZADZHANOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Deep Foundations ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Authoritarian Populism ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right ◽  
Populist Party

The purpose of the article is to consider the victory of the right-wing populist party Law and Justice (PiS) (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) in the parliamentary elections of 2015 and 2019. There were analyzed the course, specifics and result of these elections. The possible reasons for the growth of popularity and, consequently, the electoral success of PiS and the fall in support of its main competitor Civic Platform (PO) (Platforma Obywatelska) are given. Then to study a number of possible reasons, explanations that allowed the PiS to come to authoritarian populism, and voters consciously consider the authoritarian-populist party as the ruling one. These are explanations from the point of view of internal party organization, political economy, political sociology, history (the track of dependence), the concept of authoritarian clientism, neo-authoritarianism or authoritarian populism. In the key of this concept, general considerations about the magnitude of the conceptual stretch of labeling PiS as a classic example of right-wing European populism are described, alternative views on the ideological essence of PiS are given. The conclusion also identifies and analyzes the most striking features of the political line of the PiS, the deep foundations and underlying reasons for its orientation and legitimacy, and the main psychosocial and image strategies that generally form a positive image of the PiS in the eyes of its voters.

Nazistowski mord na Żydach w prasie polskich komunistów (1942–1944).

2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover

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