Suchergebnisse

Today, many far-right parties maintain youth wings, providing opportunities to mobilise members and future party leaders. However, they are often neglected in the study of the far right's organisation. This article explores the development of the 'Young Alternative' and its ambivalent relationship with the 'Alternative for Germany'. Theoretically, it argues that far-right youth wings can act as important drivers of radicalisation. It also tries to understand conflicts between far-right youth organisations and parties by discussing the interactions between organisational development and radicalisation. Empirically, it opens the 'black box' of the German case by drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including semi-structured interviews with high-ranking 'Young Alternative' members, (social) media communication and official documents of the 'Young Alternative', 'Alternative for Germany' and intelligence services. Overall, the article underlines the importance of far-right youth wings as part of the broader party organisation and offers substantial theoretical and empirical research perspectives.

AbstractIn recent years, populist radical right parties (PRRPs) have continued to establish themselves in parliaments across Europe. However, there is little research on party responses in parliaments. This article explores how mainstream parties have dealt with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in state parliaments. Its contribution is twofold: theoretically, it links the existing literature on party responses to the parliamentary arena and proposes a comprehensive framework for analyzing party responses in parliament, distinguishing between the formal and the policy level. Moreover, it tries to understand the variation of responses by emphasizing three important factors: party ideology, the government–opposition divide, and the federal structure of parties. Empirically, the article explores the crucial variation of response patterns toward the AfD at the subnational level, which is often neglected in the study of PRRPs. The results show that party responses reflect an ongoing learning process with no 'magic formula' in sight. Overall, the article underlines the importance of party responses in the initial phase for the PRRPs' impact and offers substantial theoretical and empirical impetus for future research.

Abstract
In this article, we develop and apply a typology of formal and substantive party responses to the radical right in three arenas: parliament, party competition, and the media. We argue that these provide distinct environments for parties' scope of action, which is why responses must always be understood in the light of their respective context. Empirically, we focus on the case of the Federal Republic of Germany and illustrate the usefulness of our model by analyzing the responses of the largest conservative and social democratic mainstream parties in the Bundestag (CDU/CSU and SPD) to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) between 2017 and 2022. Although both coalition partners have primarily excluded the AfD at the formal and substantive level, we find crucial differences in their response patterns between the arenas and highlight future research perspectives.

This article analyses the formal and lived organisation of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany). We show that the party is exceptional among what is usually understood as the populist radical right (PRR) party family, at least from an organisational perspective: The AfD sharply contradicts the "standard model" of PRR party organisation, which emphasises "charismatic" leadership and the centralisation of power as key features. Instead, studying the AfD's efforts to adopt some elements of a mass-party organisation and its relatively decentralised decision-making underlines the importance of "movement-party" strategy, collective leadership, and internal democracy—concepts that are usually associated with Green and left-wing parties. Our analysis shows how the party's organisation is essential for understanding its development more broadly as it reflects and reinforces sharp intra-party conflict. From this perspective, the case of the AfD sheds new light on the relationship between PRR party organisation and electoral success, indicating the importance of strong ties to parts of society over effective internal management as long as demand for anti-immigration parties is high. We conclude that even though AfD quickly built up a relatively inclusive organisational structure, the role of both its leadership and its rank-and-file is still a matter of controversy.

This article analyses the formal and lived organisation of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany). We show that the party is exceptional among what is usually understood as the populist radical right (PRR) party family, at least from an organisational perspective: The AfD sharply contradicts the "standard model" of PRR party organisation, which emphasises "charismatic" leadership and the centralisation of power as key features. Instead, studying the AfD's efforts to adopt some elements of a mass-party organisation and its relatively decentralised decision-making underlines the importance of "movement-party" strategy, collective leadership, and internal democracy—concepts that are usually associated with Green and left-wing parties. Our analysis shows how the party's organisation is essential for understanding its development more broadly as it reflects and reinforces sharp intra-party conflict. From this perspective, the case of the AfD sheds new light on the relationship between PRR party organisation and electoral success, indicating the importance of strong ties to parts of society over effective internal management as long as demand for anti-immigration parties is high. We conclude that even though AfD quickly built up a relatively inclusive organisational structure, the role of both its leadership and its rank-and-file is still a matter of controversy.

Cover -- Abkürzungsverzeichnis -- 1 Wie umgehen mit Rechtspopulisten? -- 1.1 Erkenntnisinteresse und Forschungsfrage -- 1.2 Relevanzbegründung und Kontextualisierung -- 1.3 Forschungsstand -- 1.4 Aufbau der Studie und Ausblick -- 2 Theorie: Handlungsoptionen gegenüber rechtspopulistischen Parteien -- 2.1 Grenzen bisheriger Typologien -- 2.2 Umgang statt Strategie -- 2.3 Rechtspopulismus vs. Rechtsextremismus -- 2.3.1 Funktionslogik (rechts-)populistischer Parteien -- 2.3.2 Ist die AfD rechtspopulistisch? -- 2.4 Typologie parlamentarischer Handlungsoptionen -- 2.4.1 Formale Handlungsoptionen -- 2.4.2 Inhaltliche Handlungsoptionen -- 2.5 Erklärungsfaktoren für Parteienverhalten -- 2.5.1 Inhaltliche Ausrichtung -- 2.5.2 Parlamentarische Konstellation -- 2.5.3 Föderaler Aufbau der Parteien -- 2.5.4 Erfahrungen mit Herausfordererparteien -- 2.6 Übersicht: Theoretische Annahmen -- 3 Methodik -- 3.1 Methodenmix und Materialbasis -- 3.2 Fallauswahl -- 3.2.1 Inhaltliche Ausrichtung der AfD -- 3.2.2 Parlamentarische Konstellation -- 3.2.3 Institutionelle und politisch-kulturelle Rahmenbedingungen -- 3.3 Planung bis Auswertung der Interviews -- 3.4 Untersuchungszeitraum -- 3.5 Grenzen des Forschungsvorgehens -- 4 Analyse: Umgang mit der AfD in den Landesparlamenten -- 4.1 Handlungsmuster -- 4.1.1 Umgang auf der formalen Ebene -- 4.1.2 Umgang auf der inhaltlichen Ebene -- 4.1.3 Übersicht: Handlungsmuster im Zeitverlauf -- 4.2 Erklärungsfaktoren -- 4.2.1 Inhaltliche Ausrichtung -- 4.2.2 Parlamentarische Konstellation -- 4.2.3 Föderaler Aufbau der Parteien -- 4.2.4 Erfahrungen mit Herausfordererparteien -- 4.2.5 Übersicht: Erklärungsfaktoren -- 4.3 Grenzen parlamentarischer Handlungsoptionen -- 5 Was aus alledem zu lernen ist -- 5.1 Handlungsmuster und Erklärungsfaktoren -- 5.2 Forschungs- und Handlungsperspektiven -- Literaturverzeichnis.

Dieses Buch untersucht das Verhalten der etablierten Parteien gegenüber der Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in den deutschen Landesparlamenten und führt dieses auf seine Ursachen zurück. Die Autorin erarbeitet eine Typologie parlamentarischer Handlungsoptionen gegenüber rechtspopulistischen Parteien und rekonstruiert den Umgang mit der AfD anhand dieser. Dabei werden Daten aus Interviews, Parlamentsdokumenten und Medienerzeugnissen analysiert. Es wird deutlich, dass es sich beim Umgang mit der AfD um einen ständigen Lernprozess handelt, der vor allem vom Verhalten der AfD selbstabhängig ist. Insgesamt bietet die Studie zahlreiche Anknüpfungspunkte für den wissenschaftlichen Diskurs wie auch die politische Praxis.

The organisation of populist radical right parties significantly shapes their long-term electoral success. Within this party family, great organisational variation can be found, with the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) representing a least-likely case: in terms of candidate selection (CS), it ranks much higher on democracy scales than the other Bundestag parties. This paper explores the reasons for this high level of intra-party democracy (IPD) by focusing on three explanatory dimensions: ideology, institutionalisation, and party unity. Methodologically, we apply multivariate analyses of representative quantitative data collected among AfD members at CS prior to the 2017 federal election. The results show that high political dissatisfaction and low levels of institutionalisation are important drivers of inclusive CS procedures. Overall, the article provides a deeper understanding of the underlying attitudes for the AfD's inclusive IPD, and offers substantial theoretical and empirical implications for future research.

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