The rise of the German Eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland, between ordoliberal critique and popular anxiety
| Author | Robert Grimm |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512115575384 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Political Science Review
2015, Vol. 36(3) 264 –278
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512115575384
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The rise of the German Eurosceptic
party Alternative für Deutschland,
between ordoliberal critique and
popular anxiety
Robert Grimm
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Abstract
Germany came relatively unscathed through the economic turbulence of recent years. For some observers,
Germany is the biggest beneficiary of the Eurozone and the winner of the crisis. This begs the question
of why, at the height of Germany’s post-war European influence, have an increasing number of Germans
withdrawn their support from the European project? The Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for
Germany, AfD) is Germany’s first Eurosceptic party to attract substantial electoral support in local, national
and European elections. The article firstly presents a brief summary of the AfD’s European politics. It then
traces the party’s ideological roots back to ordoliberal critiques of the Maastricht Treaty and argues that
there was a deep scepticism towards European integration among Germany’s conservative elites well before
the introduction of the Euro. The sudden surge in German Euroscepticism has to be understood within
the context of broader cultural changes and a lack of political choice. An unprecedented moral panic about
European bailouts and the European Central Bank’s monetary policy created a sense of emergency that
paved the way for the AfD’s success.
Keywords
Germany, Euroscepticism, Alternative for Germany, ordoliberal, European debt crisis, far right
Introduction
Germany came relatively unscathed through the economic turbulence of recent years. After a brief
contraction in 2008, the German economy continued to grow. While Spain and Greece experienced
youth unemployment of more than 50 per cent, in Germany it dropped to record lows (OECD,
2013a). Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain struggled to control spiralling sovereign debt and were
made to implement stringent fiscal policies. Germany, on the contrary, was able to borrow money
Corresponding author:
Robert Grimm, Department of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, 413 Geoffrey Manton Building,
Manchester M15 6BH, UK.
Email: r.grimm@mmu.ac.uk
575384IPS0010.1177/0192512115575384International Political Science ReviewGrimm
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