According to Leipzig psychologist Fiona Kalkstein, the major parties in Germany are not powerless in the face of the AfD's rise. "The AfD is not a sure-fire success. We shouldn't get used to their success and think that nothing can be done about it," said the Leipzig University researcher in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
She cited social measures as an example. There are still special conditions in eastern Germany in particular. "The East is still structurally weak, crises are more severe here than in the West. This makes people susceptible to authoritarian conditions." However, these conditions are now increasingly becoming a reality in the West as well.
After the state associations of the AfD in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, the party in Saxony was also classified as a confirmed right-wing extremist movement by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution last week. However, the party's development does not deter voters, said Kalkstein, who, as deputy director at the Else Frenkel Brunswik Institute at Leipzig University, primarily researches anti-democratic attitudes. "The more right-wing extremist the AfD has become, the more successful it has been. We have no deterrent effect at all, rather the opposite. You could almost say that right-wing extremism is a recipe for success for the AfD."
