Old Ghosts, New Enigmas: The Rise of the Far-Right in Germany

Until recently, Germany stood out as the “exceptional case” without strong far-right support compared to its neighbouring countries. Since World War II, it had contained the far-right almost perfectly, even though it shares many characteristics with its neighbours and polls amongst the highest in Europe regarding xenophobic attitudes in the population. Yet, until 2017 no far-right party ever managed to achieve federal representation. Then, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) entered the national parliament with 12.6 percent of the vote. This begs the question: why were far-right parties rejected in the past but the AfD suddenly considered as an electorally viable party? I consider one particular framework coupled with a distinct theoretical apparatus as especially capable in answering the puzzle. Namely, I take “mainstreaming” processes into view and analyse them with the help of discourse theoretical concepts especially suited to account for hegemonic changes in modern societies. I show that the way public elites (like politicians, intellectuals, or mainstream media outlets) talk about the integration of immigrants, national identity, or foreigner crime can help the far-right in making their formerly considered radical claims become acceptable and legitimate. To provide stronger theoretical grounds for this argument, I utilise the language of the Essex School of Discourse Theory and their notions such as a changing horizon, dislocatory events, or examples of a “theft of enjoyment”. Further, while the mainstreaming framework is becoming more influential, from recent publications the German case is conspicuously absent. This thesis rectifies this shortcoming. Similarly, current work on mainstreaming mainly accounts for the process of how mainstream actors co-opted existing far-right rhetoric and tropes and thereby lent them legitimacy. But I will argue that the mainstreaming process in Germany started without an active and threatening far-right party being present.