Populism in Central and Eastern Europe – Challenge for the Future?

20 Populism in Central and Eastern Europe – Challenge for the Future
GERMANY
Populism in Germany
Lionel Clesly Voss LLB (hons), MA
PhD student of Political Science – Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Populism – as a tool not an ideology
When discussing the concept of populism in relation
to Germany it is first of all necessary to
outline a definition. According to Albertazzi and
McDonnell populism is ‘[a]n ideology which pits
a virtuous and homogeneous people against a set
of elites and dangerous “others” who are together
depicted as depriving (or attempting to deprive)
the sovereign people of their rights, values, prosperity,
identity and voice.’ 7 Broadly speaking we
can therefore say that populism is the appeal to
the masses, the people, often in conjunction with
the proclaimed aim of fighting against an elitist
system, which allegedly privileges the few instead
of the many. Alternatively the threat may also be
emanating not from the elite but a ‘dangerous
other’. A frequent example of the latter not necessarily
being the same as the former, is that of
populism against immigration. In such cases immigrants
are portrayed as a burden to society and
as harming economic and social sustainability.
7 Albertazzi, Daniele and Duncan McDonnell, Twenty-first century populism: The sceptre of Western European Democracy,
Palgrave Macmillan, February 2008, p. 3.