B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the 2021 Federal Election: Down But Hardly Out
Authors: Hansen Michael A., Olsen Jonathan
Editors: Ross Campbell, Louise K. Davidson-Schmicht
Publishing place: Cham
Publication year: 2023
Book title : The 2021 German Federal Election
Series title: New Perspectives in German Political Studies
First page : 141
Last page: 161
ISBN: 978-3-031-38929-0
eISBN: 978-3-031-38930-6
ISSN: 2947-6747
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38930-6_8
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38930-6_8
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) had a mixed record of success in the 2021 federal election. Although it shed just under a fifth of its voters compared to 2017, the party maintained its support or even gained strength in East Germany, especially in southeast Germany. Although the party’s influence over public policy is extremely limited given the exclusion strategy pursued by all the mainstream German parties, the AfD is becoming an effective ‘populist issue entrepreneur,’ maintaining issue ownership over EU scepticism and anti-immigrant sentiment while capitalising on (or simply inventing) new issues in the electoral marketplace. Given this, the AfD will likely remain a fixture of German politics for many years to come.