IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/251772.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Self-Proclaimed Defender of Freedom: The AfD and the Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Lehmann, Pola
  • Zehnter, Lisa

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged nearly every aspect of life and superseded issues at the core of populist radical right (PRR) parties' ideology, dispossessing them of one of their main narratives. This also challenged the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a relatively young but strong PRR party in opposition. We explore how the party has adjusted its policy supply to this unprecedented situation and how this has affected its popularity among German voters, building our analysis on press releases issued by the AfD between January 2020 and March 2021, vote intention data and recent election results. Initially, the party's reaction was inconsistent, but from autumn 2020 the AfD focused on fuelling discontent with the government's lockdown measures, acting as a supporter of the anti-coronavirus demonstrations. It framed its response as elite critique. So far, its siding with the lockdown protesters, however, has not had any positive effect on support for the party.

Suggested Citation

  • Lehmann, Pola & Zehnter, Lisa, 2022. "The Self-Proclaimed Defender of Freedom: The AfD and the Pandemic," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue FirstView, pages 1-1.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:251772
    DOI: 10.1017/gov.2022.5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/251772/1/Full-text-article-Lehmann-et-al-The-self-proclaimed-defender.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1017/gov.2022.5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mueller, John E., 1970. "Presidential Popularity from Truman to Johnson1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 18-34, March.
    2. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    3. Lewandowsky, Marcel & Giebler, Heiko & Wagner, Aiko, 2016. "Rechtspopulismus in Deutschland. Eine empirische Einordnung der Parteien zur Bundestagswahl 2013 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der AfD," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 247-275.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hannah Carver & Tracey Price & Danilo Falzon & Peter McCulloch & Tessa Parkes, 2022. "Stress and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Frontline Homelessness Services Staff Experiences in Scotland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.
    2. repec:zbw:bofitp:2022_009 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Rodrigo Martins & Francisco Veiga, 2013. "Economic voting in Portuguese municipal elections," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 317-334, June.
    4. Xiao Chen & Hanwei Huang & Jiandong Ju & Ruoyan Sun & Jialiang Zhang, 2022. "Endogenous cross-region human mobility and pandemics," CEP Discussion Papers dp1860, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Yekaterina Chzhen & Jennifer Symonds & Dympna Devine & Júlia Mikolai & Susan Harkness & Seaneen Sloan & Gabriela Martinez Sainz, 2022. "Learning in a Pandemic: Primary School children’s Emotional Engagement with Remote Schooling during the spring 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown in Ireland," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1517-1538, August.
    6. Nils D. Steiner & Ruxanda Berlinschi & Etienne Farvaque & Jan Fidrmuc & Philipp Harms & Alexander Mihailov & Michael Neugart & Piotr Stanek, 2023. "Rallying around the EU flag: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attitudes toward European integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 283-301, March.
    7. Mirko Licchetta & Giovanni Mattozzi & Rafal Raciborski & Rupert Willis, 2022. "Economic Adjustment in the Euro Area and the United States during the COVID-19 Crisis," European Economy - Discussion Papers 160, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    8. Lucia Freira & Marco Sartorio & Cynthia Boruchowicz & Florencia Lopez Boo & Joaquin Navajas, 2021. "The interplay between partisanship, forecasted COVID-19 deaths, and support for preventive policies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Hammond, James & Siegal, Kim & Milner, Daniel & Elimu, Emmanuel & Vail, Taylor & Cathala, Paul & Gatera, Arsene & Karim, Azfar & Lee, Ja-Eun & Douxchamps, Sabine & Tu, Mai Thanh & Ouma, Emily & Lukuyu, 2022. "Perceived effects of COVID-19 restrictions on smallholder farmers: Evidence from seven lower- and middle-income countries," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    10. Antoine Auberger, 2011. "Popularity Functions for the French President and Prime Minister (1995-2007)," Working Papers halshs-00872313, HAL.
    11. Winfree, Paul, 2023. "The long-run effects of temporarily closing schools: Evidence from Virginia, 1870s-1910s," QUCEH Working Paper Series 23-02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    12. Xu,Yuanwei & Delius,Antonia Johanna Sophie & Pape,Utz Johann, 2022. "Gender Differences in Household Coping Strategies for COVID-19 in Kenya," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9959, The World Bank.
    13. Toke S. Aidt & Francisco José Veiga & Linda Gonçalves Veiga, 2007. "Election Results and Opportunistic Policies: An Integrated Approach," NIPE Working Papers 24/2007, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    14. Christoph Lindner & Ibolya Kotta & Eszter Eniko Marschalko & Kinga Szabo & Kinga Kalcza-Janosi & Jan Retelsdorf, 2022. "Increased Risk Perception, Distress Intolerance and Health Anxiety in Stricter Lockdowns: Self-Control as a Key Protective Factor in Early Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-22, April.
    15. Elmarie Nel & Andrew MacLachlan & Ollie Ballinger & Hugh Cole & Megan Cole, 2023. "Data-Driven Decision Making in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A City of Cape Town Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    16. Juan Grigera, 2022. "Adding Insult to Injury: The COVID‐19 Crisis Strikes Latin America," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(6), pages 1335-1361, November.
    17. Valentina Aprigliano & Alessandro Borin & Francesco Paolo Conteduca & Simone Emiliozzi & Marco Flaccadoro & Sabina Marchetti & Stefania Villa, 2021. "Forecasting Italian GDP growth with epidemiological data," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 664, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    18. Maximilien Chaumon & Pier-Alexandre Rioux & Sophie K. Herbst & Ignacio Spiousas & Sebastian L. Kübel & Elisa M. Gallego Hiroyasu & Şerife Leman Runyun & Luigi Micillo & Vassilis Thanopoulos & Esteban , 2022. "The Blursday database as a resource to study subjective temporalities during COVID-19," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1587-1599, November.
    19. Kellner, Adrian & Martinussen, Pål Erling & Feiring, Eli, 2023. "Don't stand so close to me: Perceptions of others’ compliance with COVID-19 recommendations and support for strict policy measures in Norway," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    20. Zhaohui Su & Ali Cheshmehzangi & Dean McDonnell & Junaid Ahmad & Sabina Šegalo & Yu-Tao Xiang & Claudimar Pereira da Veiga, 2022. "The Advantages of the Zero-COVID-19 Strategy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    21. Zander S. Venter & Adam Sadilek & Charlotte Stanton & David N. Barton & Kristin Aunan & Sourangsu Chowdhury & Aaron Schneider & Stefano Maria Iacus, 2021. "Mobility in Blue-Green Spaces Does Not Predict COVID-19 Transmission: A Global Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-12, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:251772. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.