Here is a little gem from today’s Politbarometer survey. Most Germans (71%) don’t believe that Trump is able to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal (whatever that means), and only 24% think that he could do it. But for nearly two thirds of the far right AfD’s voters, the answer to that question is a hearty…
Germany will hold an early election in February 2025. It looks like the AfD could increase their 2021 result by half.
If you are not worried, you have not been paying attention. “National populism” – itself a polite misnomer for a radical right ideology that also claims to attack the elites – is going international. Viktor Orbán, bankrolled by the EU and the Hungarian treasury, is trying to establish himself as the impresario of this transnational…
After the 2019 Green wave, many observers expected a blue-brownish backlash for 2024. And in many countries, these observers (who are these people, and why are they always so well-informed?) were not disappointed. In Germany, the governing “progressive” coalition took a rather spectacular beating, while the main opposition, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) performed ok-ish. The…
Here’s an interview with DW in which I try to make sense of the 2024 state elections in Brandenburg.
Ten days or so ahead of the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, I had a chat with Berlin-based British Deutschlandversteher Deborah Cole. Some quotes made it into this excellent explainer piece in the Guardian. Looks like Germany failed the test. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/29/germany-state-elections-populists-afd-bsw
Wer sich schon immer diese oder ähnliche Fragen gestellt hat, kann hier ohne Paywall das Gespräch zwischen Daniel Bax und mir nachlesen. https://taz.de/Politologe-ueber-Wagenknecht-Partei/!6001761
The far right is not the driving force behind the farmers’ protests, but their style is indicative of an erosion of democratic norms in Germany
Mit Dietmar Neuerer habe ich ausführlich über den Leidensweg des Heizungsgesetzes und die Dauerkrise der Koalition gesprochen. Das Interview ist zum größeren Teil hinter einer Paywall, aber ganz zu lesen, wenn man den Link im Incognito-Modus öffnet. https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/interview-cdu-und-csu-waeren-schlecht-beraten-einen-heizungswahlkampf-zu-fuehren/v_detail_tab_comments/29244652.html
Was hat die Wärmepumpe zum politischen Symbol gemacht? Was hat die Heizung mit dem Veggie-Day zu tun? Und nützt das alles am Ende nur der AfD?