I am not sure this is all a bad development. Germany's federal system gives states like Saxony-Anhalt a great deal of latitude in governance. Although AfD ran a more professional campaign most far right parties are not really very good at governance. They may be able to cobble together a governing coalition but European coalitions (unlike American parties) are notoriously unstable and can shift like sand.
Further in some cases giving AfD the ability to overreach may give the rest of Germany an opportunity to see AfD mismanagement in real time. As long as the integrity of the German electoral system remains intact, as we saw in Hungary, AfD can be discarded or forced to moderate. Really the key to AfD's continued viability will be being able to govern effectively and efficiently.
To be honest, about half of AfD's platform would be acceptable to most libertarians although the other half would be a total deal breaker.
AfD's power seems to rest in areas of Germany associated with what was East Germany. Parts of Germany that have never enjoyed the economic vitality of the old West Germany. There seems to be a weird nostalgia for the safety and security that authoritarianism offers. A nostalgia for the good old days when the Soviets (and Putin himself) were actively running things. It would be interesting to see if the old East Germany is spiritually resurrected by a generation that never lived through those miserable years.
It depends on how this plays out in the rest of Germany where AfD (now) has less of an appeal.
How ironic, that the Saxony-Anhalt cohort, who lived under both their own fascism and Soviet socialism, have gone from the fire, into another fire, out of that fire (since 1989), yet now are seemingly trying to get back into the original fire.
It's a lack of generational memory of course. Institutional memory works a bit, at least. But you have to have the institutions. And it takes generations to build them, and even then they are not impervious to attack. Witness the Americans, who have had 250 years plus, compared to arguably a single Saxony-Anhalt generation (okay, two) since 1989.
"In the aftermath of this weekend’s election, the easiest thing in the world is to say—as almost every headline writer has—that “the far-right AfD” won the regional election. The fact that these same publications, from the BBC to The New York Times, rarely, if ever, use the same scary monikers to describe far-left parties gaining support across the continent is a matter for another day. "
I am not sure this is all a bad development. Germany's federal system gives states like Saxony-Anhalt a great deal of latitude in governance. Although AfD ran a more professional campaign most far right parties are not really very good at governance. They may be able to cobble together a governing coalition but European coalitions (unlike American parties) are notoriously unstable and can shift like sand.
Further in some cases giving AfD the ability to overreach may give the rest of Germany an opportunity to see AfD mismanagement in real time. As long as the integrity of the German electoral system remains intact, as we saw in Hungary, AfD can be discarded or forced to moderate. Really the key to AfD's continued viability will be being able to govern effectively and efficiently.
To be honest, about half of AfD's platform would be acceptable to most libertarians although the other half would be a total deal breaker.
AfD's power seems to rest in areas of Germany associated with what was East Germany. Parts of Germany that have never enjoyed the economic vitality of the old West Germany. There seems to be a weird nostalgia for the safety and security that authoritarianism offers. A nostalgia for the good old days when the Soviets (and Putin himself) were actively running things. It would be interesting to see if the old East Germany is spiritually resurrected by a generation that never lived through those miserable years.
It depends on how this plays out in the rest of Germany where AfD (now) has less of an appeal.
How ironic, that the Saxony-Anhalt cohort, who lived under both their own fascism and Soviet socialism, have gone from the fire, into another fire, out of that fire (since 1989), yet now are seemingly trying to get back into the original fire.
It's a lack of generational memory of course. Institutional memory works a bit, at least. But you have to have the institutions. And it takes generations to build them, and even then they are not impervious to attack. Witness the Americans, who have had 250 years plus, compared to arguably a single Saxony-Anhalt generation (okay, two) since 1989.
This article is not accurately describing events, instead joining the MSM in idiotic panic-mongering. The AfD is not a far right party. The Free Press does better in https://www.thefp.com/p/douglas-murray-afd-election-far-right-immigration-merkel
"In the aftermath of this weekend’s election, the easiest thing in the world is to say—as almost every headline writer has—that “the far-right AfD” won the regional election. The fact that these same publications, from the BBC to The New York Times, rarely, if ever, use the same scary monikers to describe far-left parties gaining support across the continent is a matter for another day. "
I guess if you find the Free Press a credible publication, we are just not going to agree on a whole lot. https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-free-press-passage-into-the-dark
Wonderful development! Germany may yet stay German after all.