Interview #68 – Alternative for Germany and the “Weaponization” of History

January 28, 2025January 28, 20251 Comment

The rise of populist radical right movements goes hand in hand with the politicization of history. Historical narratives are powerful tools that can shape public perception, reinforce ideologies, and legitimize political agendas. Focusing on the Alternative for Germany (AfD), we discuss with Matthias Dilling and Félix Krawatzek how the party’s strategic engagement with Germany’s collective memory intersects with broader trends in Europe and beyond.

From Milei’s nostalgic vision for Argentina to Romania’s recent electoral scandals that brought back echoes of the country’s fascist and communist past, history is a battleground for defining national identity and social values.

The interview sheds light on the role of the past in shaping the future, offering critical insights into the challenges posed by historical revisionism and the opportunities for fostering a more informed public discourse.

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Interview #65 – AfD and the end of German Exceptionalism

October 1, 2024October 1, 2024Leave a comment

Germany has long been viewed as *the* model for reckoning with past atrocities—particularly through its atonement for the Holocaust and the creation of a public space steeped in historical reflection and contrition. Unlike Italy, for example, Germany has made its national memory a central pillar of its identity. However, this commitment to remembrance is now producing some unforeseen challenges.

For example, the legacy of the Holocaust makes critical public discussions about the actions of the Israeli government very difficult. At the same time, antisemitism, which has never fully disappeared, is once again on the rise.

In November 2023, members of the far-right party AfD were caught in a secret meeting discussing a “master plan” for the mass deportation of foreigners and “non-assimilated” Germans. When the news broke in January 2024, over a million people took to the streets across Germany to protest extremism and AfD’s ideology.

While the widespread mobilization in defense of democracy is heartening, it’s equally concerning that a party like AfD—which would have been considered taboo just a decade ago—has not only gained traction but may even be poised for government in the near future.

So, how did AfD become the third-largest political force in Germany? And is the country’s democratic cordon sanitaire strong enough to hold?

This interview delves into these questions and more with political expert Manès Weisskircher.

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Interview #64 – Populism and Constitutional Resilience

June 17, 2024June 18, 2024Leave a comment

The impact of populists in power is always a much-debated topic. There are the apocalyptics, who predict locusts and other misfortunes every time a populist comes to power. Then there are those like Jasmin Sarah König, who analyse the data, observe the context, and draw conclusions by considering the pros and cons, situations and characteristics of the actors involved, and the systems in which these processes occur.

For example, Jasmin argues that when they are part of coalition governments, populist parties cannot simply implement the policies they want. When there are proper political checks and balances – not only through judicial institutions but through other political parties or organizations – possible negative consequences of populism can be contained.

She studied in detail whether the legislation initiated by the populist radical right FPÖ is unconstitutional more often than the laws initiated by other parties. The findings suggest that the FPÖ did not transgress constitutional boundaries more often than other parties because populist radical right parties can be forced to moderate when they need to compromise with a coalition partner.

Because, in the end, our constitutions are neither solid nor weak: they are just paper. It’s up to us to protect them.

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Interview #60 — The Far Right and the Politics of Memory

November 29, 2023Leave a comment

The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is in power since one year, and she has been very busy opening an exhibition in Rome about J.R.R. Tolkien (one of her old obsessions, we talked about it in one of the last interviews, here). But this is far from the only thing she has been busy with during the last 12 months. She also devoted quite some time to official visits to former Italian colonies such as Libya, Albania, and Ethiopia, discussing issues linked to energy, migrants, and infrastructures.

Last May, I went to King’s College (London) for the presentation of Marianna Griffini’s book ‘The Politics of Memory in the Italian Populist Radical Right’. It was a very interesting event, with great discussions about the contemporary far right and its selective memory of the colonial past. I revised my notes for the event’s introduction and pulished them as an article for Jacobin (here, in Italian).

Since then, the relevance of the Italian colonial past has done nothing but increasing, and it could have been hardly different with the far-right government currently in power. In this interview, we discuss with Marianna Griffini the removal of the country’s past, the role of the far right in this process, as well as current and future developments.

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Interview #46 — How to understand the emergence of far right parties

October 26, 2020October 22, 2020Leave a comment

In this interview with Steven Van Hauwaert we discuss the reasons behind the success of the far right and its links to the dynamic processes that characterize social movements. Thinking outside the box, or beyond the classic demand and supply approach, is essential to understand the success and failure of far right parties: in particular, expanding political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and master frames —if analyzed together and combined with favorable socio-economic conditions— can offer a much more complete explanation for the emergence of far right parties.

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Interview #45 — The Vox of which populi?

October 12, 2020October 9, 2020Leave a comment

In this interview with Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte we talk about Vox, the end of Spanish exceptionalism, and the turbulent changes in the Spanish political landscape. While several aspects of Vox seem to fall neatly in the populist far right category as we see it across Europe, other aspects are rather peculiar. In particular, while immigration does not seem to explain much of the vote for Vox, the Catalan issue and Spanish nationalism deeply define the motivations of Vox’s voters.

The picture above was taken in Lisbon, Portugal, and shows a poster of Chega, a populist far right party similar in many aspects to Vox. Chega obtained one seat in the Portuguese parliament in 2019, thus shaking Portuguese exceptionalism. The party’s leader, André Ventura, in the poster is conveying the following message: “Of the storms we’ll make hope. For Portugal, for Portuguese people”. The poster has been modified and now reads: “For Portugal, for everyone”.

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Interview #36 — The Far Right Today

October 21, 2019October 21, 20192 Comments

The Far Right Today is Cas Mudde’s new book. It is extremely recommended for academics, but its clarity, scope, and tone make it a great read for everyone interested in knowing what form the far right takes in contemporary politics, its origins and causes, leadership styles, and its links to issues such as religion and gender. Most importantly, this book is a great read for those who want to know what can be done to protect liberal democracy’s pluralism and minority rights.

The book brings you across neo-Nazi skin subcultures of Mongolia and Malaysia, the Japanese gaisensha (vans covered in propaganda slogans and fitted with loudspeakers), Eastern German football hooligans, Nemzeti rock, and femonationalism, with a particular emphasis on cases such as India, Hungary, Israel, Brazil, and the United States. The variety of cases examined, the clarity of the language, and the diversity of topics considered, contribute to offer a panoramic view of the contemporary far right with vivid colors and unsettling details, but it also offers an engaging and necessary pro-active section on how to respond to the challenges posed by the far right.

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