Annika Müller – Pike & Hurricane

Socially Progressive, Economically Conservative: What Does It Mean to Be Liberal?

Annika Müller — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 18:55:29 +0000

The German FDP (Free Democratic Party) was an established part of the German parliament for 64 years—until their votes dropped under 5 percent in 2013. The German newspaper Focus lists unclear leadership, a programme void of any substance and the continuous rise of the AfD as reasons for this sudden drop. Moreover, the party is perceived as a “Klientelpartei”, a party that only serves the mostly economic interests of their party members, instead of serving the German people. What does this development say about the stand of liberals in the political world?

“Liberals in Germany want the state [to] be confined to provid[e] safety for the people and a stable environment, but not meddle around with people with overabundant regulation,” explains political scientist Michael Dreyer in an article for DW. According to him, liberals are usually socially progressive, but also economically conservative. However, this description is not true for all liberal parties. In the United States, “liberal” is almost synonymous with the left-leaning supporters of the democratic party. The British and Canadian liberal parties are also found on the moderate left. The Australian liberal party is thoroughly conservative. Dreyer explains this broad division with the history of the term “liberal”.

Liberalism is one of the oldest political terms, originating around the time of the French revolution and enlightenment. However, it is important to note that liberalism was generally a movement of the upper class, wealthy citizens and scholars—not a workers movement. Ed Rooksby, a teacher of politics at Ruskin College, Oxford, suggests that liberalism should be understood as a “specific historical movement of ideas”, rather than a collection of values. This could explain the significant differences in what does and does not qualify as liberal in different countries. In modern times, liberals usually support ideas such as the upholding of human rights, freedom of speech, press and religion, democracy and free markets, among others.

Moreover, Rooksby suggests that the history of liberalism is also the history of the rise of capitalism. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was the liberals who fought against the feudal system, demanded democracy and the separation of church and state. By the 19th century, liberals demanded livable working conditions for factory workers. In the 20th century, especially after the second World War, many prominent politicians favoured neoliberalism as their political philosophy: A reworked version of liberalism, surrounding the idea that economic growth is the most important outcome and businesses should be able to pursue whatever gives them an economic advantage.

Famous neoliberals have historically been criticised for their disregard of workers and human rights. Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, dedicated a lot of her work to the decimation of the influence of workers and trade unions. While many criticised Thatcher’s policies as attempts to legalise worker exploitation, others praise her for making the UK more competitive in the age of globalisation. Former US President Richard Nixon implemented a row of policies that were supposed to end the supposed drug epidemic in the States, which resulted in unproportionate arrests of people of colour. This criticism seems similar to the hardships the German FDP is facing right now.

Rally in support of the British Miner’s Strike of 1984. The conservative government under Thatcher made plans to privatize coal mines and weaken the coal miner unions. This resulted in a nationwide general strike of coal miners.

The big predicament surrounding liberalism seems to be the combination of unrestricted economic growth and the preservation of the rights of the individual. According to liberals, everyone deserves a fair chance under capitalism—theoretically. It seems that, if the liberals want to persist as a politically important power in Germany, the USA and elsewhere, they will need to take an honest stand. The definition of liberalism, its ideas and who it really fights for are still grey zones within itself. Only time will tell if liberalism can redeem itself in the eyes of the public.

Photo credits:

Image 1 by Dirk Vorderstraße, ‘Christian Lindner (FDP)’, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Image 2 by nicksarebi, ‘Miners’ Strike Rally in London in 1984′, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

The post Socially Progressive, Economically Conservative: What Does It Mean to Be Liberal? appeared first on Pike & Hurricane.

Under Pressure: Right-Wing Party AfD Moves into the German Parliament

Annika Müller — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:38:45 +0000

“The AfD will hunt Merkel down. We will reclaim our country and our people”, is what party representative Alexander Gauland proclaimed in reaction to his party’s success in the German parliament election. The AfD (“Alternative für Deutschland”- engl. “Alternative for Germany”) gained 12.6% of all votes, making them the third-biggest fraction in the German parliament. For the first time in 50 years, a party to the right of the Christian-Democratic Union – lead by Angela Merkel – will move into the parliament. How long will the party’s success last?

From protest movement to popular opposition

The AfD was formed in Berlin in 2013 as a “party and citizens’ movement against the undemocratic and unjust arbitrariness”, as they put it on their website. Only a year later, they gained 7 seats in the European Parliament, as well as access to regional governments in Germany.

The party gained publicity through their controversial, conservative stances on issues such as the European Union, marriage equality for homosexual couples, immigration and asylum. In detail, the party advocated for Germany to leave the European Union, fully opposes gay rights – despite providing an openly lesbian woman as the chancellor candidate – and is continuously critical of Merkel’s refugee policy.

Now, the party is likely to become the new leader of the opposition. Werner Patzelt – political scientist working at University of Dresden, Saxony – highlights two main advantages of being the opposition leader in the German parliament: Being in charge of the chairmanship of the Committee of Budgets, as well as the right to be the first respondent to parliament decisions. Therefore, the AfD might be prone to gain even more political influence and also more publicity.

Power to persist?

What kind of policies is the AfD likely to push now that they gained a considerable amount of legislative power? According to NPR, one of the party’s main goals is the complete closure of the German border to refugees and immigrants, including the prohibition of subsequent immigration of family members, which up until now was possible for immigrants with a residence permit.

Moreover, the party favors the ban of headscarves and strongly advocates for Germany’s withdrawal from the Eurozone. However, party representative and election campaign manager Alexander Gauland failed to give concrete answers when asked about plans concerning retirement and health care reforms, as reported by the “Berliner Zeitung”.

DESCRIPTION: Locals protesting AfD’s party convention in Cologne, partially waving flags of the German left party “Die Linke”. Their signs say “Racists in sheep’s clothing”, (from left to right) “We are one” and “AfD is not an alternative”. Credit: Elke Wetzig, Wikimedia Commons.

“Electoral breakthrough is different from electoral persistence”, highlights Cas Mudde, who works at the Center of Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo, in his opinion piece about the AfD’s election success. Historically, it has been difficult for right-wing parties to not only establish a faction but also hold it together. Here it should be mentioned that no other German Party is willing to form a coalition with AfD, as NPR reported.

Moreover, Mudde states that AfD has a weak relationship to its voters, as the majority claim to be “against all other parties”, as opposed to voting for AfD out of sincere conviction. In addition, only 12 percent of the AfD-voters support chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, which makes her the least popular candidate within her own party and in all of Germany. Overall, Mudde doubts that the AfD will be a consistent force in the parliament.

Young party on shaky ground

Many political scientists, like Mudde in the referenced article above, predict that AfD will split into different, smaller groups as the legislative period progresses. In addition, one of AfD’s most famous party leaders – Frauke Petry – announced that she will not sit in the parliament as an AfD-representative, but as an independent representative, which was universally received as a surprise.

The voters themselves have heavily criticized the party for not clearly rejecting racist ideals and “distancing themselves from extreme positions”. In the eyes of their voters and even party members, it seems like AfD is failing to establish themselves as a real “alternative” to the established parties of the German political spectrum. Of course, frequent protests and public backlash against their conservative policies put pressure on the party as well.

AfD is a rather young party that began as a protest movement and turned into the third strongest force in the German parliament today. Their stances are controversial, which causes the party to face criticism from opposing parties and politicians, political activists and even within their own following. Whether they will be able to last in the German parliament, let alone successfully execute their ideas for policies, only time will tell.

By Annika Aries Müller

Photo credit:

AfD, Olaf Kosinsky, CC-BY-SA-3.0-DE

Köln stellt sich quer, Elke Wetzig, CC-BY-SA-4.0

The post Under Pressure: Right-Wing Party AfD Moves into the German Parliament appeared first on Pike & Hurricane.