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Die Linke

March 12, 2025

🌈 How a new electoral reform has pushed women out of the Bundestag

Corinna Kröber The new German Bundestag will be smaller and more right-wing wing. And it will be more male-dominated. Corinna Kröber and Lena Stephan discuss how the political shift to the right and the new electoral law have influenced this trend, and the potential long-term consequences for women’s political representation in Germany Read more

March 4, 2025

The 2025 German election: far-right surge and coalition collapse

James F. Downes James F. Downes argues that the 2025 German election has upended decades of stability: the CDU’s rightward pivot and the AfD’s historic surge have left a fragmented parliament. With the SPD’s progressive coalition shattered, a shaky 'Grand Alliance' offers minimal respite. Germany’s turmoil threatens EU unity — and its own democratic foundations Read more

February 20, 2025

🌈 German parties’ visions for gender economic equity: 2025 federal elections

Renée Krug Germany heads to the polls on 23 February, amid an economic recession. Renée Krug, Stefan Wallaschek and Pauline Ahlhaus analyse the parties' main election programmes, and show how, in contrast with left-wing parties, those on the right rarely address gendered economic inequalities and LGBTQI rights. With polls indicating a CDU-led government, gender-related issues are at risk of being sidelined — or even reversed Read more

September 23, 2024

Elections in eastern Germany: the limits of exclusionism

Thomas Poguntke Thomas Poguntke argues that the shock results of recent elections in two German Länder show how Germany's party system has lost its capacity to integrate radical challengers. As a result, coalition formation now increasingly requires alliances which do not work – and this feeds popular disaffection. Read more

May 16, 2024

🔮 Do European left-wing populists in government become more moderate?

Jan Philipp Thomeczek Jan Philipp Thomeczek argues that European left-wing populist parties become more moderate as a consequence of their participation in government. Here, he draws on recent examples from Spain, Greece and Germany. Read more

November 14, 2023

Is Germany going authoritarian-left?

Flora Baumgartner Left-wing German politician Sahra Wagenknecht is launching a new party, Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – für Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit (– for Reason and Justice). With its likely ‘left-authoritarian’ agenda, BSW looks poised to shake up the German system. Flora Baumgartner analyses the party's profile, support base and prospects, placing it in the context of broader European developments Read more

October 10, 2023

🔮 The deep divisions in left-wing populism in Germany

Jan Philipp Thomeczek The Left (Die Linke) in Germany is one of the most established left-wing populist parties in Europe. But it may soon experience a split, Jan Philipp Thomeczek argues, as Sahra Wagenknecht may form her own party. He places this within the German historical context, and within that of populist movements more broadly Read more

March 21, 2023

🔮 Three die-hard myths about populism

Mattia Zulianello Mattia Zulianello and Petra Guasti explore and rebut three die-hard myths about populism. This, they argue, on the one hand guards against overestimating populism as a phenomenon. On the other, it warns that we must not underestimate the political strength of the so-called populist radical right Read more

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