Proposed Abstract for POSC 3213 supervised by Dr.

Nassef

Author: Jenova Jireh C. Arsua

Section: BPS 4-1

Date: March 1, 2017 (Revised)

Title: How Surfing and Germs Explain the Rise of the Far Right Populist Alternative fur
Deutschland (AfD) in Germany?

Abstract:

Germany struggles with a political earthquake brought by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a
Far Right populist party classified as such because of their anti-immigration derived from their
nativist and authoritarian attitudinal element and anti-EU stances because of their populist
attitudinal element (Mudde, 2007;as cited by Rooduijn, 2015), as they gained political support
from the German public as manifested in State elections last 2016 in which they gained 10 out of
16 seats in regional assemblies from single-digit percentage votes to double-digit percentage
votes for the first time in history (Chase, 2017). So how is this phenomenon possible? The
objective of this research is to explain how a Far Right Populist party, particularly the AfD
(Alternative for Germany), emerge or rise in Germany. In view of this, the author will use the
Riding-the-Wave Theory introduced by Ansolabehere and Iyengar (as cited by Kluver, et. al,
2016) which argues that political parties adjust their issue attention on the voters priority issues
or issues that are salient to voters for them (political parties) to get electoral gains. The theory
will be accompanied by an analogy between humans behavioral immune response in avoiding
the threat of infection-causing germs and how AfD project themselves as a cure in helping the
German public in reducing the risks or threats of crime and terrorism by directly linking migrants
to crime and terrorism.

Key words: Far Right Populist, Riding the Wave Theory, Analogy, Human behavioral immune
response, migrants, crime, and terrorism

Count: 223
References:

Journal Articles

Kluver, H. and Inaki Sagarzazu (2016) Setting the Agenda or Responding to Voters? Political
Parties, Voters, and Issue Attention, West European Politics, 39(2), 380-398, Available from
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fwep20 or DOI: 10.1080/01402382.2015.1101295 [Accessed 1st
March 2017]

Rooduijn, M. (2015) The Rise of the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe. European View.
14(1), 3-11, Available from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12290-015-0347-5
[Accessed 1st March 2017]

News Articles
Schwartz, Y. (2016) Letter from Munich: Germanys Far Right rises again. Available from:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/germanys-far-right-rises-again-214543
[Accessed 16th February 2017]

Anderson, E. (2016) The AfD-is it fair to call them a far right party? Available from:
https://www.thelocal.de/20160927/how-far-right-are-the-afd [Accessed 16th February 2017]

The Local (2016) AfD inhuman, unbearable and cruel, says party founder. Available from:
https://www.thelocal.de/20160202/afd-is-inhuman-cruel-and-unbearable-says-ex-leader
[Accessed 16th February 2017]

France 24 (2016) Germanys right-wing AfD party adopts anti-Islam manifesto. Available from:
http://www.france24.com/en/20160502-germany-right-wing-afd-party-adopts-anti-islam-
manifesto [Accessed 16th February 2017]

Connolly, K. (2017) Tensions rise in Germany over handling of mass sexual assaults in Cologne.
Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/06/tensions-rise-in-germany-over-
handling-of-mass-sexual-assaults-in-cologne [Accessed 16th February 2017]

Simon, D. et al (2016) Berlin Christmas market: 12 dead, 48 hospitalized in truck crash.

Available from: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/19/europe/berlin-christmas-market-truck/
[Accessed 16th February 2017]
Horn, H. (2016) The Voters Who Want Islam Out of Germany. Available from:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/05/afd-germany-anti-
immigration/484700/ [Accessed 16th February 2017]