Category: Politics
4 quick takes on the result of the 2019 European Elections in Germany
[caption id="attachment_28859" align="alignnone" width="884"] Results of the EP 2019 in Germany (exit polls as of 7pm)[/caption] It will take some time to get nearly-final results for Germany, let alone for the EU, but the picture emerging from the exit polls in Germany is reasonably clear. So, in time honoured tradition, here are my hot takes:…
The EP 2019 brings all the (neo-fascist) boys to the yard
Germany – no EP electoral threshold for the last time There are currently 111 ‘political associations’ registered with Germany’s federal electoral commission. 41 of them (counting the CDU and the CSU separately) are fielding candidates in the upcoming European elections.Why are they doing it? Narcissism aside, this is a national election that is held without…
Countdown to campaign poster hell
Our local party system may have collapsed, giving way too much room to the officers & gentlemen / wannabe parish priests. But just when I thought I had seen the worst, the regional CDU got it in their head to prove that even with the benefit of professionally designed templates and logos, things can go…
I want to be your mayor. Or your priest. Or whatever (hellish election posters part 666)
Local democracy is a good thing. It is also one of the good things that you can have too much of. After almost sixty years of territorial reforms, Rhineland-Palatinate, a state that harbours about 5% of Germany’s total population, is still home to about 2,500 of the nation’s ~11,000 municipalities. There may be an EP…
Politicians hanging from lampposts
It’s that time again: EP and local elections are in conjunction, and politicians are wasting public space and money on election posters from hell. In national campaigns, election posters are a remarkably inefficient way to burn through campaign funds. Their main function is to remind voters that their party still exist. Apart from that, they…
Neuer Pre-Print: Politischer Extremismus (Einstellungen)
Weltweit steht die liberale Demokratie unter Druck. Die politische Extremismusforschung hat dadurch eine traurige Bedeutung erlangt. Die politikwissenschaftliche Einstellungsforschung leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Extremismusforschung. Sie untersucht Attitüden, die offen antidemokratisch oder für demokratische Gemeinwesen zumindest problematisch sind. Für das von Thorsten Faas, Oscar Gabriel und Jürgen Maier herausgegebene Handbuch zur Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung habe…
Black-hole-Brexit meme
On the day of the umpteenth Not-So-Special Brexit Council, the stunning image of a super-massive black hole was revealed. In unrelated news, I live with two teenagers. So when idly trying to catch up on the less-than-stellar proceedings in Brussels, the headlines collided in my poor head. For posterity, here is some exclusive coverage of…
Germany’s carnival and the Alternative for Germany
Germany’s carnival is supposed to be funny and political. Usually it is neither. But sometimes, there is a glimpse. Mocked at Mainz This is a picture I took at the Rosenmontagszug in Mainz, a major parade that attracts hundreds of thousands of revellers. The front of the float shows a pretty realistic AfD election poster…
AfD leader Gauland lectures at far-right academy (video)
Last weekend, AfD leader Alexander Gauland gave a lecture at a “winter school” organised by the Institut für Staatspolitik (IfS). The IfS is a far-right think whose state aim it is to form the future elite of far-right leaders. If you think that leader of Germany’s biggest opposition party being part of such a thing…