The rise of the AfD

Why are the hard-right AfD so popular in Germany - and where will they go next?

Wikipedia Commons/ Oxfordian Kissuth

A recurring theme of this newsletter is the rise of the AfD. Founded in 2013 as an anti-Euro party, the Alternative for Germany have become best known internationally for their rejection of mass migration, particularly when it comes from the Muslim world.

More than that though, they oppose many, if not all, the major developments that German society has undergone over the past two to three decades. They argue that Germany’s green energy policies - and the nuclear shutdown - are driving the country into poverty; they want to re-establish normal relations with Russia; and they remain highly sceptical of both the single currency and the EU as a whole, which they see as unaccountable institutions that have hollowed out national democracies.

For their supporters, the AfD offer hope of a return to Germany’s post-war heyday when the state played a relatively small role in people’s lives. They see the AfD as the last chance of saving the Federal Republic from…