Overview
- Develops a political opportunity structure theoretical framework
- Analyzes the balance between AfD far-right political ideology signaling and campaign moderate messaging
- Predicts AfD success and failure by examining potential future strategies
Part of the book series: New Perspectives in German Political Studies (NPG)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“In light of the increased support for the far-right Alternative for Germany, Michael A. Hansen and Jonathan Olsen's Political Entrepreneurship in the Age of Dealignment: The Populist, Far-right Alternative for Germany is the right book at the right time. This is the first study to provide detailed analysis of the party's performance in the three federal elections since its founding, with the elections marking the AfD's emergence (2013), breakthrough (2017) and sustainment (2021). The authors argue that its success has been due to successful issue entrepreneurship and ideological agility through exploiting, inventing, or performing various crises. A changed political opportunity structure – including the erosion of the culture of contrition, political dealignment and unoccupied partisan space – are also shown to be crucial factors. This book combines sophisticated statistics (AfD voters are not losers of modernisation), qualitative analyses (shifting emphases in campaign posters) and cutting-edge theoretical and conceptual perspectives. It should be required reading for anyone interested in German and European politics, and the recent success of populist, radical-right parties.” (Eric Langenbacher, Teaching Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University, USA; and Director of the Society, Culture, and Politics Program, American-German Institute, USA)
“Why and how hasthe Alternative for Germany been able to achieve unprecedented electoral success while radicalising further to the right in a country where such a move would be expected to face substantive political ramifications? In their highly insightful book, Hansen and Olsen analyse an array of primary data on the party’s evolving electoral base, strategies and internal politics to answer this question. Providing a comprehensive account of the AfD’s development over time and in contrast to previous far-right parties in Germany, Hansen and Olsen show how and why the AfD’s entrepreneurial strategy in response to different crises is crucial to understand the party’s emergence, breakthrough and sustainment. The result is an authoritative book for anybody interested in German politics, political parties and the radical right more broadly.” (Matthias Dilling, Lecturer, Swansea University, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Michael A. Hansen is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Turku, Finland. He previously held a Postdoctoral position at Lund University and was an Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin Parkside.
Jonathan Olsen is Professor and Chair, Department of Social Sciences and Historical Studies at Texas Woman's University, USA.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Political Entrepreneurship in the Age of Dealignment
Book Subtitle: The Populist Far-Right Alternative for Germany
Authors: Michael A. Hansen, Jonathan Olsen
Series Title: New Perspectives in German Political Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50890-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-50889-9Published: 29 February 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-50892-9Due: 15 April 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-50890-5Published: 28 February 2024
Series ISSN: 2947-6747
Series E-ISSN: 2947-6755
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 209
Number of Illustrations: 20 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics: European Politics, Political Communication, Electoral Politics