The AfD’s rise is the centre left’s final warning
The surging far-right is a symptom of a world slipping out of progressive control – and comprehension.
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Read the New Statesman’s latest comment, long-read features and analysis on Germany.
Sahra Wagenknecht loses her civil war on the German left
The political upstart, who tried to blend right-wing nationalism and left-wing socialism, failed to make a mark in Germany's election.
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Germany’s warning signal for Britain
High-turnout elections used to neutralise the far right. This weekend challenged that assumption.
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Germany’s polarised election
Friedrich Merz is on track to be the next chancellor though his country’s traditional political stability has vanished.
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The AfD doesn’t need to win
The far-right party is already reshaping Germany.
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The far right rising
The AfD is courting the global right – and threatening to upend European politics.
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The Munich car attack will have a powerful political echo
Could the tragedy boost the far right in the upcoming election?
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Labour must heed the warnings from the German election
Social democrats will lose if they fail to challenge an outdated liberal consensus.
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How WG Sebald found his form
His studies of Austrian writers, at times more fiction than fact, offer a guide to the artist he would become.
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Hard right on course to win big in Germany
New polling from YouGov puts the Social Democrats in third place, behind Alternative for Germany.
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The year ahead: How could Germany’s election shape the EU?
The February vote looks likely to result in another grand coalition – yet much of the country’s inertia is structural.
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Angela Merkel’s first principles
The former chancellor’s memoir Freedom reveals how her childhood in East Germany helped forge a doctrine of moral decency and…
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How did it go so wrong for Germany?
The former economic superpower is mired in a deep structural slump.
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The collapse of Germany’s government
The country is now condemned to a political vacuum for months.
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How Kraftwerk’s Autobahn remade pop
Half a century ago, the art-rock band introduced the world to the vocoder. Their sound – and pop music –…
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The left must resist the seductions of austerity
Britain and Germany are walking into the same fiscal doom loop.
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Putin stares down the West
With Russia’s war economy roaring, the balance of power is shifting in the Kremlin’s favour.
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Life after retirement at the BBC
Also this week: savage cuts at Radio 4, and woman as temptress.
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The many-faceted influence of Sahra Wagenknecht
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a particular niche that the left-wing politician is filling with apparent ease.
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Ursula von der Leyen is damaging EU unity
The European Commission president has let a personal rivalry sour the relationship between Germany and France.
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