Antisemitism in the “Alternative for Germany” Party

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-93
Author(s):  
Samuel Salzborn
Keyword(s):  
Public Debate ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Media Image ◽  
Alternative For Germany

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been sitting in Germany’s federal parliament since September 2017, having won 12.6 percent of the popular vote. In considering this young party’s recent development, researchers have focussed on its rhetorical strategies (i.e., populism) and its radicalization. Until now, much less attention has been paid to antisemitism within the AfD— also because the party would prefer to keep this out of public debate. By investigating its treatment of antisemitism, Nazism, and the politics of remembrance, it can be shown that the AfD has the features of a far-right party, to a much clearer extent than might be guessed from its media image, particularly inside Germany.

scholarly journals Introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Sarah Wiliarty ◽  
Louise K. Davidson-Schmich
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
National Level ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Alternative For Germany

With its 5 percent electoral threshold, constitutional goal of creating a “wehrhafte Demokratie,” (defensive democracy) and the Christian Democrats’ goal of never allowing a party to their right, the Federal Republic has long seemed immune to the rise of a national-level, populist far-right party. In September 2017, however, Germany joined most European countries when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered the Bundestag with over 12 percent of the popular vote. By 2020, the party was represented in all state legislatures in the country and its votes briefly helped elect a state level chief executive in Thuringia.

Representation and Government

2020 ◽  
pp. 204-233
Author(s):  
Catherine E. De Vries ◽  
Sara B. Hobolt
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
German Politics ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
Government Stability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Alternative For Germany

This chapter highlights the impact of the rise of challenger parties on both representation and responsible government. It begins by examining whether voters are more mobilized and feel more represented in systems with greater choice and more challenger parties. The chapter also looks at how the rise of a new challenger, the Alternative for Germany, on the far right in German politics has had a mobilizing effect on citizens. It then turns to the effect on government stability. The chapter shows that it is more difficult to form a government as the share of challenger parties rises and, importantly, the governments that are formed are less stable. Finally, it discusses the specific examples of government formation in Belgium and government instability in the Netherlands.

German election results point to three-party coalition

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Capital ◽  
Lower Saxony ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Christian Democratic Union ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Christian Social Union ◽  
Alternative For Germany

Significance However, the result is overshadowed by the heavy losses her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), incurred and a surge in support for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). Impacts Coalition negotiations will only start in earnest after the regional election in Lower Saxony on October 15. A CDU/CSU-FDP-Greens coalition means that the centre-left SPD rather than the AfD will lead the opposition in parliament. Neither Merkel nor the FDP are likely to use their political capital to push for a more accommodating German or EU stand on Brexit.

Germany’s CDU looks set for modest shift to the right

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Euro Area ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Political Fragmentation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Christian Democratic Union ◽  
German Politics ◽  
Regional Branch ◽  
Good For ◽  
The Right ◽  
Alternative For Germany

Subject CDU leadership race. Significance On February 8, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced she would resign as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) after the party’s regional branch in Thuringia defied party rules to vote with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Her resignation reopens the question as to whether the CDU continues with Chancellor Angela Merkel's pragmatic course after she steps down, or whether it will take a more conservative direction; it also raises the possibility of a snap election. Impacts Deepening political fragmentation will make it increasingly difficult for the CDU to maintain its policy of not cooperating with the AfD. German politics will become more domestically focused in 2020, thereby slowing progress on issues such as euro-area reform and EU defence. Kramp-Karrenbauer’s leadership was underwhelming, so her resignation may be good for the CDU if a more authoritative leader replaces her.

scholarly journals The Populist Party in the Countries of the European Union: the Ideological Profile and Activities at the Beginning of XXI Century

2017 ◽  
pp. 100-109
Author(s):  
A. Martynov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Political Response ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Alternative For Germany

The article highlights the political renaissance of European right-wing populist skeptics in most countries of the European Union. These political parties to the global economic crisis in 2008, when the process of European integration was on the rise, remained on the margins of politics. The crisis of the liberal model of globalization, the influx of refugees from crisis areas of conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, increased social contradictions reanimated populist right-wing ideology. This socio-political response to this reality has pushed the popularity of far-right nationalist political forces in most Central European countries. In terms of ideology classification of these political forces are represented as populists “left” orientation (the French “National Front”) and “right” populists (the party “Alternative for Germany”). This fact confirms the erosion of traditional ideological markers in politics and the crisis of determining its strategy and tactics.

Archival Resistance

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Annika Orich
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
New Right ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Democratic Ideals ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Alternative For Germany

The popularity of Pegida and success of the Alternative for Germany has raised the question of how Germany should respond to the New Right. This article argues that reading in archives has emerged as a sociopolitical act of resistance against far-right movements, and that archival reading across time, borders, and media has turned into a strategy to defend democratic ideals. As the New Right’s rise also originates in an archival investment to control public opinion and policy, the practice of archivally reading today’s far right shows that contemporary Germany is in the midst of renegotiating its cultural archive, memory, and democratic principles.

This Was the One for Me

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125
Author(s):  
Christina Xydias
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
State Level ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
The One ◽  
Politically Active ◽  
Alternative For Germany

Next to the Alternative for Germany (AfD)’s nationalism and anti-immigrant attitudes, natalism and support for traditional gender roles are key components of the party’s far right categorization. Women are not absent from parties like the AfD, though they support them at lower rates than men and at lower rates than they support other parties. In light of women’s lower presence in far-right parties, how do women officeholders in the AfD explain their party affiliation, and how do their explanations differ from men’s? An answer is discernible at the nexus between AfD officeholders’ publicly available political backgrounds and the accounts that they offer for joining the party, termed “origin stories.” Empirically, this article uses an original dataset of political biographical details for all the AfD’s state and federal legislators elected between 2013 and late 2019. This dataset shows that AfD women at the state level are less likely than their men counterparts to have been affiliated with a political party, and they are less likely to have been politically active, prior to their participation in the AfD. Regardless of the facts of their backgrounds, however, women more than men explain their support of the AfD as a choice to enter into politics, and men more than women explain their support of the AfD as a choice to leave another party. The article argues that these gendered origin stories can be contextualized within the party’s masculinist, natalist, and nationalist values.

Karaktermord, angreb og selvanklager omkring Knausgårds Min kamp

2021 ◽  
pp. 106-122
Author(s):  
Rikke Andersen Kraglund
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
The Family ◽  
Artistic Freedom ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship

This article studies the effects of the ambiguous accusations around Karl Ove Knausgaard’s novel in six parts, My struggle (2009-11). The novel’s portrait of a number of named individuals and family members brought the relationship between artistic freedom and defamation, responsibility, guilt and shame up for discussion, and initiated negotiations of collective norms and values in connection with autobiographical novels. An analysis of the rhetorical strategies behind the family’s accusations at the time of the publication, initially illuminates the ethical dilemmas the family helped to raise in the public debate. Next, the accusations in the novels themselves are studied and the article shows a need to consider how differently the accusations appear in and outside the novels, because the autobiographical novel establishes an ambiguous statement that is not found in the media coverage

Oppositionsverhalten in den Plenardebatten zum Migrationspakt: Der „Neue Dualismus“ auf dem Prüfstand

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 618-639
Author(s):  
Michael Bannert ◽  
Marcus Höreth
Keyword(s):  
Far Right ◽  
Global Compact ◽  
Opposition Party ◽  
Analytic Methods ◽  
Left Party ◽  
The Government ◽  
German Bundestag ◽  
First Time ◽  
Alternative For Germany

In the 19th election period, the Alternative for Germany entered the German Bundestag for the first time . Being the largest opposition party, it is conspicuous for its aggressive and provocative behaviour . The smaller and established opposition parties FDP, Left Party, and Greens appear occasionally to distance themselves from their opposition colleague by form­ing an alliance together with the government with the purpose of challenging the far-right populist opposition party . By performing a case study analyzing plenary debates regarding the Global Compact for Migration, utilizing content and frequency analytic methods we study opposition party behaviour with regard to conflict patterns . The findings suggest that the “new dualism” between the governing majority and the opposition is supplemented by the confrontation between established parties and the AfD .

Pointing Fingers at the Media?

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Alexander Beyer ◽  
Steven Weldon
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
German Politics ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Media ◽  
Alternative For Germany ◽  
Key Questions

The 2017 Bundestag election and the breakthrough of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will likely long be remembered as a pivotal moment in German politics. One of the key questions in the aftermath of this breakthrough is what role the mainstream media played in this party’s success. Drawing on online data from the four largest German news outlets, Google-trend searches, and Twitter, we examine the media coverage landscape over the course of the election campaign, focusing on the coverage of the AfD relative to other parties and its key issues of immigration and Euroskepticism. Our results indicate that the AfD did indeed face a favorable media environment, especially in the final month of the campaign. Further analysis, however, suggests that the media was in many ways simply responding to public interest and demand—immigration, especially, was a highly salient issue throughout the campaign, something that was a significant departure from recent elections.

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