Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Primary Advisor

Candice Ortbals-Wiser

Secondary Advisor

Suzie Macaluso

Committee Reader

Leslie Senter

Abstract

Support for Germany’s contemporary far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has become more salient in recent years due to multiple crises in the European Union and changes in the German political landscape. The rise of the AfD is met with significant pushback from the majority of the German public due to its similarity to the Nazi party in rhetoric, policy, and action. However, opposition to the party is not unanimous; the AfD polled at 22 percent in January 2024. Through a qualitative analysis of 16 interviews with German citizens on their perspectives of the party, I find there exists dealignment within the German party system, tensions in civil discourse, and collective anxiety over the pariah approach of the AfD. These conclusions emerge through participants' expression of frustration with their choices in parties, a lack of relationship to AfD members, and the belief in the importance of listening to those with different views than oneself. Participants express that although the AfD appears to address issues that could be considered justifiable, the party utilizes the wrong approach towards these issues and inevitably threatens Germany’s liberal democracy in the process. The research reveals implications for the state of the German party system, the EU, and the state of civil society in Germany.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.