Authoritarian Populism and Political Subjectivation in Saxony

The Federal Republic of Germany is charac­terized by multiple crises and increasing social polarization. In this context, Saxony represents an (alleged) aberrant path of autho­ritarian trans­formation of society, and "Saxon democracy" was already seen in 2012 as a synonym for the creeping decay of democratic values and structures, illiberal responses to social crises, and the strengthening of the extreme right. At the same time, the "Alter­native for Germany" (AfD) is challen­ging the demo­cratic system, especially in Saxony, with its continued successes in state and federal elections. It bundles the electorate for autho­ritarian policies and reg­ressive crisis management: The renatio­nalization of politics, racist migration and integration policies, stereo­typical gender images, and an advo­cacy of fossil fuel energy and econ­omic policies are central components of the AfD's program.  Similarly, the ongoing protests around coronavirus protection measures show that the populist poten­tials for the AfD's anti-system policies are far from exhausted.    

This research project inves­tigates the poten­tials of reg­ressive political subjecti­fication in the everyday life of residents of a large city and a medium-sized city in Saxony. Regarding the causes of the AfD's rise to success as well as broader trans­formations of every­day life, the project uses a multi-metho­dological and spatially sensitive approach to inves­tigate how residents perceive the changes in their environ­ment and what potentials exist for democratic inter­vention.