What explains the remarkable rise of Germany’s AfD?

A common stereotype about Germans is that they love to complain – and there is certainly a kernel of truth to that. Grumbling is part and parcel of everyday German life, often with complete strangers. But on my recent trips to Germany, I felt that general expressions of dissatisfaction have acquired a new sharpness. Whole communities seem angry and disillusioned with the status quo.  

More and more Germans seem to have turned their backs on mainstream politics. According to a survey released last week, the ruling coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Liberals (FDP) would now only accrue 38 per cent of the vote. Meanwhile, the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) would gain 19 per cent on its own, more than any of the three parties currently in power, including chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD.   

At the federal level this is the highest the AfD has ever polled in its ten-year history. That this can easily be converted into actual political power was proved by Sunday’s local elections in Sonneberg, a tiny district of only 56,000 inhabitants in the eastern state of Thuringia.