In 2017 for the first time since World War II, a right-wing populist party entered the German Bundestag. What came as a massive shock to many political observers in Germany, was merely the expression of a trend stretching across industrialised countries for a couple of decades now: the return of the illiberal right.
The AfD, Trump, Orbán and the fight over the rule of law in Poland are phenomena that – at least from a German perspective – are hard to explain. Germany has had its experience with extreme Illiberalism under the Nazi regime and for a long time thought itself immune against a return of the illiberal right.
This course tries to find explanations for the success of the AfD and other right-wing movements or parties, with a specific focus on Germany and the East-West divide that less than 35 years ago still cut Europe and Germany in two halves. In this course we look for answers to questions such as: Why do people vote for right-wing populist parties? What lesson can the history of right-wing extremism offer for contemporary politics? Can the experience of forceful and rapid change among citizens of formerly Communist states explain the prominence of Illiberalism in Eastern Germany and, potentially, beyond?
Studying in Berlin, students will gather first-hand experience of the city’s tumultuous history in the recent past. Being the capital to five different German states in the last 150 years, Berlin offers deep insights into the history of Illiberalism in Germany. Through various excursions, students will be able to directly experience the effects of Illiberalism in contemporary German society and politics.
The course is divided into three parts, which deal with the past, present and future of Illiberalism respectively. For each part, we will undertake an excursion within Berlin and discuss a Berlin-based movie to demonstrate how the traces of Illiberalism can be found throughout the city. The first part provides an introduction to key developments of 20th century German history. We will explore the role of Liberalism and the post-1989 transformation in Eastern Germany and Central and Eastern Europe to find explanations for strong illiberal tenets in this region. In the second part, we proceed to analyse the effects of Illiberalism in key fields of contestation in contemporary German politics such as economic globalization, gender equality or migration policy. With this knowledge at hand, the final part provides the space for an outlook on the role of Illiberalism in the 21st century.