Rafaela Dancygier

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A voter casts his ballot at a polling station during federal parliamentary elections in Berlin on Sept. 26. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg News)

The major headlines coming out of Germany’s recent federal election were about the Social Democrats’ win and the stunning defeat of the Christian Democrats after Angela Merkel’s 16-year leadership run.

But there’s another major story. Many feared that Germany might shift to the right, following countries like Austria or Switzerland, where xenophobic parties have long been powerful. Instead, Germany’s far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) lost 11 seats, receiving about 10 percent of the vote.

Why did the AfD lose votes in this election? In an age where right-wing populists appeal to many voters, the German election results suggest that centrist parties are finding ways to contain the far right.…  Seguir leyendo »

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a selfie taken with a refugee during a visit to a refugee reception center in Berlin in September 2015. (EPA)

At the height of the refugee crisis two years ago, many Germans thought that Angela Merkel’s days as chancellor were numbered. Merkel’s open embrace of Syrian refugees upset the conservative wing of her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and fired up the far-right, anti-Muslim Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Fast forward to Sept. 24, 2017, and the CDU lost millions of votes. But it remains Germany’s largest party, with Merkel at the head. The election campaign was widely characterized as boring, in part because her center-right CDU and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) largely agree on how to approach the immigration issue.…  Seguir leyendo »