THE RISE OF RADICAL RIGHT IN GERMANY: ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY, POPULISM AND DEMOCRACY

Abstract

Due to the 2009 Eurozone crisis, EU’s intervention into German domestic politics, rise of refugee crisis in 2015, increase in terror attacks and the German people’s effort to protect their own identity, there has been a rise of populist radical right in Germany. Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland – AfD) succeeded in gaining representation in the German Parliament as the first radical rightist party since World War II. AfD, follows anti-EU, anti-refugee and anti-Islam policies, and won 12.6 percent of the votes, making it the third largest party in the parliament after the September 2017 general election. This rapid rise of AfD has raised concerns among German public regarding deconsolidation of German democracy. This article aims at analyzing AfD’s populist policies under the framework of Cas Mudde’s (2007: 22) three components of populism, which are populism, nativism and authoritarianism, in the framework of democratic deconsolidation. By referring to the AfD party program and discourses of AfD politicians, the article will analyze AfD’s populist policies, which polarize the people as “us” and “others”; its nativist policies that claim that Germany should be reserved for Germans alone; and also its authoritarian policies, that propose authoritarian legal arrangements to expel the immigrants and refugees from Germany. While the article argues that AfD poses a potential challenge to German democracy in the context of political pluralism, civil liberties and political rights, it also points out that the German constitutional safeguards and the political culture would prevent this challenge ever being realized.

Keywords

• Rise of Right
• Populist Radical Right Parties
• German Politics
• Populism
• Democracy

ALMANYA’DA RADİKAL SAĞIN YÜKSELİŞİ: ALMANYA İÇİN ALTERNATİF PARTİSİ, POPÜLİZM VE DEMOKRASİ

Abstract

Almanya için Alternatif Partisi’nin (Alternative für Deutschland – AfD) kısa sürede güçlenmesine 2009 avro krizi, Avrupa Birliği’nin (AB) Almanya’nın iç siyasetine artan müdahalesi, 2015 yılında başlayan göçmen ve mülteci krizi, artan terör saldırıları ve Almanların kendi kimliklerini koruma çabaları neden olmuştur. AfD, İkinci Dünya Savaşı’ndan sonra Alman Parlamentosu’na girmeyi başaran ilk radikal popülist sağ partidir. AB, göç ve İslam karşıtı politikalar izleyen AfD, 2017 genel seçimlerinde oyların %12,6’sını alarak parlamentoda üçüncü parti olmuştur. AfD’nin bu hızlı yükselişi halkta partinin Alman demokrasisine zarar vereceği konusunda yaygın bir kaygı oluşturmuştur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, AfD’yi Cas Mudde’nin (2007: 22) popülist radikal sağ ideolojinin üç bileşeni olarak tanımladığı “popülizm, yerlicilik ve otoriterlik” çerçevesinde inceleyerek partinin Alman demokrasisini zayıflatıp zayıflatamayacağını tartışmaktır. Bu amaçla makale, parti programı ve politikacılarının söylemleri üzerinden AfD’nin toplumu “biz” ve “öteki” şeklinde kutuplaştıran “popülist politikalarını” ve ülkesinde sadece Alman halkının yaşaması gerektiğini belirten ve diğerlerini ulusal kimlik ve Alman kültürüne tehdit olarak gördüğü “yerlicilik politikalarını” incelemektedir. Ayrıca “ötekini” kabul etmemek için önerdiği otoriter hukuki düzenlemeleri analiz etmektedir. Çalışma bu “popülist” politikaların yerleşik Alman demokrasisine özellikle siyasal çoğulculuk, siyasi haklar ve kişisel özgürlükler konusunda tehlike oluşturduğuna ancak Alman anayasasında alınan önlemlerin ve Alman siyasi kültürünün bu tehlikeyi asgariye indirdiğini savunmaktadır.

Keywords

• Sağın Yükselişi
• Popülist Radikal Sağ Partiler
• Alman Siyaseti
• Popülizm
• Demokrasi

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