Following the long-term rise and recent electoral boost of radical-right populist parties across Europe, the Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) became the third strongest party in the 2017 general elections for the German
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Radical Right-Wing Populists in Parliament
Examining the Alternative for Germany in European Context
Lars Rensmann
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 41–73
Radical Reactionary
The Politics of William Le Queux
Harry Wood
Fiction identifies Le Queux as ‘a sinister, anti-Semitic, and right-wing figure’. 11 Developing on these contrasting positions, this article will suggest that William Le Queux is best understood as a product of the Edwardian radical right. First
David Art
The federal elections of 2017 brought a radical right party into parliament for the first time in postwar Germany. This fact alone would have made the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) the central storyline in elections that ultimately
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 76–86
Lars Rensmann
Despite several breakthroughs that indicate radical right parties' significant electoral potential, they remain highly volatile players in both Poland and eastern Germany. This is puzzling because radical right competitors can benefit from favorable politico-cultural conditions shaped by postcommunist legacies. The electoral markets in Poland and the eastern German Länder show low levels of affective party identification and low levels of political trust in mainstream parties and government institutions. Most importantly, there is a sizeable, yet largely unrepresented segment of voters who share salient counter-cosmopolitan preferences. They point to a “silent counterrevolution“ against globalization and cosmopolitan value change that displays substantive affinities to radical right ideology. Offering a transborder regional comparison of the four most relevant radical right parties and their conditions for electoral mobilization in Poland and eastern Germany, this article argues that the radical right's crossnational volatility-and often underperformance-in elections is mainly caused by internal supply side factors. They range from organizational deficiencies, leadership issues, and internal feuds, to strategic failures and a lack of democratic responsiveness. In turn, the disequilibrium between counter-cosmopolitan demand and its political representation is likely to be reduced if radical right competitors become more effective agents of electoral mobilization-or new, better organized ones emerge.
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2012
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 64–102
Michael Minkenberg
International comparisons of new radical right-wing parties usually
focus on differences in electoral fortunes, party organizations, and
leadership styles and conclude that Germany stands out as a special
case of successful marginalization of the new radical right. Explanations
for this German anomaly point at the combined effects of German
history and institutional arrangements of the Federal Republic
of Germany, of ideological dilemmas and strategic failures of the
various parties of the new radical right, and the efforts of the established
political parties to prevent the rise of new parties to the right
of them. By implication, this means that, whereas in countries like
France or Austria the new radical right plays a significant role in politics
to the point of changing the political systems themselves, the
German counterpart has a negligible impact and has little or no
effects on politics and polity.
Bernhard Forchtner and Christoffer Kølvraa
This article inquires into how contemporary populist radical right parties relate to environmental issues of countryside and climate protection, by analyzing relevant discourses of the British National Party (BNP) and the Danish People's Party (DPP). It does so by looking at party materials along three dimensions: the aesthetic, the symbolic, and the material. The article discusses to what extent the parties' political stances on environmental issues are conditioned by deeper structures of nationalist ideology and the understandings of nature embedded therein. It illustrates a fundamental difference between the way nationalist actors engage in, on the one hand, the protection of nature as national countryside and landscape, epitomizing the nation's beauty, harmony and purity over which the people are sovereign. On the other hand, they deny or cast doubt on environmental risks located at a transnational level, such as those that relate to climate. The article argues that this apparent inconsistency is rooted in the ideological tenets of nationalism as the transnational undermines the nationalist ideal of sovereignty.
The Alternative for Germany from Breakthrough toward Consolidation?
A Comparative Perspective on Its Organizational Development
E. Gene Frankland
institutionalization of the AfD so far. To what extent has it followed the path of “mature” populist radical-right parties, such as the Austrian Freedom Party (FPӦ) and the Italian Northern League ( ln )? Finally, what are prospective relationships between the AfD and
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 30–54
Populist Rhetoric and Nativist Alarmism
The AfD in Comparative Perspective
Barbara Donovan
attraction of being part of a larger populist, far-right coalition. The AfD's current affiliation with the Identity and Democracy group places the German party firmly in the camp of populist radical-right parties of Europe. What does that mean, however, in
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 55–76
“We Must Talk about Cologne”
Race, Gender, and Reconfigurations of “Europe”
Beverly Weber
right have moved into centrist discourses, although not without great controversy and tremendous criticism. Responses to the radical right, particularly Pegida and related groups, often resort to reclaiming a range of different “Europes,” overlapping
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2016
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 68–86
Two of the Same Kind?
The Rise of the AfD and its Implications for the CDU/CSU
Matthias Dilling
from being a conservative challenger to the Christian Democrats toward becoming a populist radical right party. This transformation, I proceed to outline, is reflected in the AfD’s vote base in the 2017 election. It represents, as survey data
In German Politics and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 84–104