The Far Right Bibliography: the pandemic (aka spring 2020) update

What bibliography? The Eclectic, Erratic Bibliography on the Extreme Right (in (Western) Europe)™ is a collection of references on far right parties & their voters. Most of the titles fall in to the field of Political Science (broadly defined), but some contributions from related disciplines (most notably sociology, psychology, and economy) are included, too. You…

MPs under investigation, dying in Germany, quanteda goes 2.0, and academic chapters: 4 links I liked

MPs under investigation, dying in Germany, quanteda goes 2.0, and academic chapters: 4 links I liked 1

Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution (i.e. the spooks) begins to build dossiers on 3 sitting MPs for the AfD. All of them are prominent members of the most radical faction within the party (in German) In a landmark ruling, Germany’s highest court declares ban on assisted suicide unconstitutional. Judges say right to…

Germany’s AfD did not really kick out the wing(nuts)

Update #3 March 25: Looks like we are indeed getting an option 1+2 outcome: Höcke & Kalbitz say they cannot shred the membership list b/c there is none, but tell members to refrain from political activity under the “wing” brand. Obviously, they will otherwise remain very active within the party. Update #2 March 21: The…

Sinn Fein wins big in Ireland, German centre-right does deal with the devil™️, and UK journalists: 3 links I liked

Sinn Fein wins big in Ireland, German centre-right does deal with the devil™️, and UK journalists: 3 links I liked 4

Never ever have Sinn Fein (and leftist parties more generally) done so well as in the January 2020 Irish general election. Political journalists in the UK grow some spine and boycott a press conference that was open to a select few only. Everyone is rightfully concerned about the trumpification of UK politics. Provincial centre-right politicians…

Al Jazeera and the CDU/FDP/AfD coup

The election of an FDP politician as minister president of Thuringia made international headlines. One of the outlets that covered the events was Al Jazeera, who interviewed me on the day after the event. [contentcards url="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/regional-german-president-set-quit-day-election-200206181517379.html" target="_blank"]

CNN covers Thuringia, with a little input from me

The CDU/FDP/AfD collaboration in Thuringia created quite a stir, not just nationally but also internationally. Even CNN covered the events. I had a chat with one of their correspondents, and some of that made it into their online coverage. [contentcards url="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/06/europe/thuringia-germany-far-right-afd-coalition-merkel-intl-grm/index.html",target="_blank"]

The Rise of the Radical Right is not unstoppable

Shocking insight: the rise of the Radical Right is neither inevitable nor monotonic. Setbacks are real, and so is the rise of left-libertarian parties and the mainstreaming of views that were outragesously liberal just a couple of decades ago (c.f. views on same-sex marriage etc.). It’s a good thing that journalists (they still exist) start…