German far right setting agenda as opponents amplify its ideas, study finds | The far right

Researchers in Germany found that mainstream parties are increasingly allowing the far-right to set the agenda, a shortcoming that unwittingly helps the far-right by legitimizing and disseminating its ideas more widely.

findings, It was published The articles, appearing in the European Journal of Political Studies, were based on an automated text analysis of 520,408 articles in six German newspapers over two decades.

Berlin-based researchers found that as the far right shifted from fringe issues to issues such as integration and immigration in the late 1990s, mainstream parties increasingly reshaped their communications, increasing the dissemination of these ideas and signaling to voters that these ideas and stances were legitimate.

Teresa Völker, a political sociologist at the Berlin Center for Social Sciences and co-author of the study, said the overall result has very important implications for democracy. “The political communication of mainstream parties plays a central role in the electoral success of the far right,” he said. “This factor was underestimated.”

This effect was evident even when mainstream parties criticized the far right. “You still show interest in them,” Völker said. “Our basic argument is that because we live in such a struggle for attention, that attention is so important. Whoever sets the agenda has an influence on what voters think and who they vote for.”

Although the study focused on Germany, this normalization effect likely applies to countries across Europe, said study co-author Daniel Saldivia Gonzatti, a political sociologist at the Berlin Center for Social Sciences. “You see this a lot in the German and British media,” he said. “The far right says something and everyone starts talking about it for a week. Everyone is shocked by it, but it makes headlines. Even if you disagree, you repeat it.”

Sometimes leaders also he hardened his words to match the one on the extreme right. Olaf Scholz, then German Chancellor and leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), said in a 2023 interview that it was time for “large-scale deportations of those who do not have the right to stay in Germany” and called for deportations to occur “more frequently and faster” across the country.

Similar examples can be seen across Europe, as politicians in countries from the UK to France have adopted the language of the far right, especially when it comes to immigration, creating an echo chamber many would have never dreamed of a decade ago.

Saldivia Gonzatti said that at the heart of the issue is the question of who will set the tone and decide the topic. “If you are a moderate party and you talk about what we call cultural issues, such as immigration and integration, according to the rhythm of the far right, this is the idea of ​​​​setting the agenda.”

Other political parties are going one step further and trying to copy the hard-line agenda of the far right; whereas research shows that doing so pushes voters to vote for the far right.

Völker said the scope of data collected revealed that the influence of far-right parties was gradual and increased over time. “Public perception does not change from one day to the next. But if you hear this negative framing of immigration every two weeks, and it is spread not only by far-right parties, but also, for example, by the Social Democrats, then of course this narrative goes further.”

The findings build on previous studies showing that the far right has been steadily normalized, whether through mainstream parties’ decisions to join forces in coalitions and alliances or through the attention paid to them by the mass media.

But in this case, researchers were surprised by the extent of the far-right’s influence. “Our expectation was that it would be right-wing parties that would be more responsive to far-right agenda setting,” Saldivia Gonzatti said. “And what we found was that that wasn’t the case specifically, it was true across the board.” The research revealed that opposition parties were more likely to be affected than parties in government.

Völker said the findings would likely be similar across Europe. An exception, he said, are the Scandinavian countries, where far-right influence has moved into what he calls a “second phase” and has broadened past cultural issues to cover a wide range of topics.

“Since all the mainstream parties have already adopted the agenda of the far right on some positions on immigration, they have already passed the point where the far right sets its agenda only on immigration,” Völker said.

Saldivia Gonzatti said that the research underlines that mainstream political parties should create their own discourse, especially when it comes to issues such as immigration and integration, instead of constantly following the far right.

“It’s like dancing,” he said. “If the conductor is far-right and you react to that, you can’t decide what music is played.”