Germany has just held its elections and Angela Merkel has won her fourth term as chancellor, she is widely deemed to be the most powerful women on the planet. But Germany is in a dilemma the far right is on the rise the AfD or alternative for Germany party (Germany's main far-right party)
has just won 94 seats in parliament compared to 0 in 2013. This will be the first time a far-right nationalist part will be part of the government since Hitlers Nazi party. The sudden rise in far-right nationalism is a worry for Europe but what has caused this astronomical rise in just a short
period of time and what do the AfD stand for.
The AfD was founded in 2013 on the back of the Euro-zone crisis, opposing Germany's financial support of Euro-zone states. There policy's and ideology are similar to other far-right groups as well as advocating for a Swiss-style direct democracy and dissolution of the Euro-zone. They also oppose
immigration/Islam as well as gay marriages and adoption for same-sex couples.
The AfD also supports the privatisation of social programs and state-owned enterprises. They call for Germany to cede no further elements of its sovereignty to the EU without approval via a referendum.
The party denies climate change (a resemblance of Trump?) and therefore criticises the energy transformation policies that have promoted renewable energy and deemed them a waste of money.
But what has caused them from not being able to acquire the minimum five percent threshold for a seat in parliament in 2013 to winning almost 100, in a period of just four years.
There have been many theories and speculations, the most famous being of course immigration, which is true. As the refugee crisis-hit Europe and hundreds of thousands began to settle in,
Germans were becoming quite scared and nervous resulting in 56 percent of voters for the far-right party claiming they were motivated by the refugee crisis.What was most striking about AfD’s campaign was its ability to bring non-voters to the ballots, 40 percent of AfD’s vote in Saxony-Anhalt came from previous non-voters who i believe were also prompted by the refugee crisis.
As we saw when Trump was elected as president there was speculation that Russia had influenced the election but whether Putin's Russia had direct influence in the German election is a matter of debate. The AfD has estimated that about a third of its support comes from Russian-speaking voters, several million of whom have settled in Germany since the 1980's.
The AfD translated its leaflets and brochures into Russian it also ran information stands and outreach programs in Russian-speaking neighbourhoods and catered its platform to the interests of this community. Among the AfD's core pledges on foreign policy is to lift German sanctions on Russia and seek warmer relations with President Vladimir Putin, Putin on the other hand, condemns Germany's soft stance on immigration.
But in almost every country that we have seen the far right gain power, whether it be UKIP in England, Trump in America or Hitler in Germany there is a string of similarity's that we see in every situation.
firstly economic downturn, high unemployment and inflation leading to distrust between the government and its people and the need for a new leadership.
This new leadership seeing the opportunity will propagate its ideology and usually create a scapegoat for the economic situation, Hitler used the Jews while modern day scapegoats include immigrants and Muslims And lastly gaining power.
There are many challenges for the AfD and Angela Merkel that lie ahead. Let's just hope the AfD loses its voter base and Mekel addresses the issues that caused this scenario and wins back her votes.
has just won 94 seats in parliament compared to 0 in 2013. This will be the first time a far-right nationalist part will be part of the government since Hitlers Nazi party. The sudden rise in far-right nationalism is a worry for Europe but what has caused this astronomical rise in just a short
period of time and what do the AfD stand for.
The AfD was founded in 2013 on the back of the Euro-zone crisis, opposing Germany's financial support of Euro-zone states. There policy's and ideology are similar to other far-right groups as well as advocating for a Swiss-style direct democracy and dissolution of the Euro-zone. They also opposeimmigration/Islam as well as gay marriages and adoption for same-sex couples.
The AfD also supports the privatisation of social programs and state-owned enterprises. They call for Germany to cede no further elements of its sovereignty to the EU without approval via a referendum.
The party denies climate change (a resemblance of Trump?) and therefore criticises the energy transformation policies that have promoted renewable energy and deemed them a waste of money.
But what has caused them from not being able to acquire the minimum five percent threshold for a seat in parliament in 2013 to winning almost 100, in a period of just four years.
There have been many theories and speculations, the most famous being of course immigration, which is true. As the refugee crisis-hit Europe and hundreds of thousands began to settle in,
Germans were becoming quite scared and nervous resulting in 56 percent of voters for the far-right party claiming they were motivated by the refugee crisis.What was most striking about AfD’s campaign was its ability to bring non-voters to the ballots, 40 percent of AfD’s vote in Saxony-Anhalt came from previous non-voters who i believe were also prompted by the refugee crisis.
As we saw when Trump was elected as president there was speculation that Russia had influenced the election but whether Putin's Russia had direct influence in the German election is a matter of debate. The AfD has estimated that about a third of its support comes from Russian-speaking voters, several million of whom have settled in Germany since the 1980's.
The AfD translated its leaflets and brochures into Russian it also ran information stands and outreach programs in Russian-speaking neighbourhoods and catered its platform to the interests of this community. Among the AfD's core pledges on foreign policy is to lift German sanctions on Russia and seek warmer relations with President Vladimir Putin, Putin on the other hand, condemns Germany's soft stance on immigration.
But in almost every country that we have seen the far right gain power, whether it be UKIP in England, Trump in America or Hitler in Germany there is a string of similarity's that we see in every situation.
firstly economic downturn, high unemployment and inflation leading to distrust between the government and its people and the need for a new leadership.
This new leadership seeing the opportunity will propagate its ideology and usually create a scapegoat for the economic situation, Hitler used the Jews while modern day scapegoats include immigrants and Muslims And lastly gaining power.
There are many challenges for the AfD and Angela Merkel that lie ahead. Let's just hope the AfD loses its voter base and Mekel addresses the issues that caused this scenario and wins back her votes.
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