How can a nation curb polarisation? Lessons India can take from Germany

But despite a strong affective politics determining the course of one of the strongest European countries today, Germany continues to escape polarisation - a lesson India and other countries can benef

Socialising in the old East German town of Halle ahead of the 2017 elections, it was easier to momentarily forget the strong anti-immigrant sentiment, representative for this part of Germany. Instead, the focus was on other factors that appeared to be derailing Angela Merkel’s long and stable governance.

A self-assured, non-German white male scholar mansplained to us the prevailing mood: an unemployed man in Dresden thinks Angela Merkel wants to be a world leader. But he wants a German leader who can resolve his immediate problems.

Like many countries in Europe, Germany too has been embroiled in the anti-immigration and Islamophobic narratives. The agenda has been set by the alt-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Some parties like the Christian Social Union (CSU), Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union or CDU’s Bavarian partner, engaged in anti-immigration rhetoric to preserve their electorate in the 2018 state elections.

The left (Die Linke) and centre-left (the Social Democratic Party) have also cautiously dabbled in the game with populist rhetoric targeted towards sections of the working class that are looking right-wards today.

But despite this strong affective politics determining the course of one of the strongest European countries today, Germany continues to escape polarisation – a lesson India and other countries can benefit from.

Liberal versus neo-liberal

The insecurity of the working class is a recurrent sub-text within debates on immigration. The European Union’s purported neo-liberal policies have apparently placed this group in a precarious position. Non-conservative scholars and public intellectuals have also bought into the trope of a stereotypical Dresden man who does not care of a compassionate world leader since the advent of global Trumpism.

As artiste Berg Stegemann, who is associated with Die Linke, stated in a Guardian article: “We are dealing with an absurd situation when the winners of neoliberalism tell the losers that they must be more humane.”

Stegemann called for a political praxis that links generic criticism of neo-liberal policies to universal liberal values such as being humane. He suggests that lofty universal ideals are contaminated by association.

The resentment against immigration is palpable among an electorate which has repeatedly punished the CDU in the federal and state elections; its vote-share dropped by over 8% in the former. The drive to punish Merkel and the CDU reflects a realisation that humanitarian politics comes at a price which some Germans might as yet be unwilling to pay. Consequently, they are petulant about being exposed.

This has, however, resulted in some interesting shifts that buck transnational trends: while the AfD has benefited, becoming the third-largest party in the federal parliament, its gains do not match, say, Marie Le Pen’s from France.

The cynical populism on the left has similarly not paid any dividends, while the CSU has registered a steep fall in its vote share. The punishment vote in Bavarian and Hesse state elections was split between the AfD and the Green Party, which stays out of the immigrant-bashing politics all together.

The German electorate appears to be worried about immigration and minorities, but is not yet rewarding those who stoke these fears further.

Lessons from the CDU’s leadership convention

In the recent intra-party conventions held to choose the CDU’s new leader, this trend was again manifest.

Friedrich Merz, who returned to the political scene after a successful stint in the corporate sector, is the closest Germans have come to a Trump. Albeit a Trump critic himself, he relentlessly stoked anti-immigrant rhetoric and played down his wealth accumulation to come across as relatable guy (a self-identified middle-class multimillionaire if we are to believe) who could ‘save Germany’.

Although his performance inspired many party delegates – it is, after all, a party that has not seen masculine domination for more than a decade – commentators realised that his narrative was probably boosting the AfD further. The main political party, in this way, swayed dangerously to the tune of affective politics, but the final vote was again for stability rather than drastic change.

Also Read: Reading the History of Nazi Germany as a Cautionary Tale for Today

The three contenders to the top post were: a social conservative, social welfarist; a socially progressive, neo-liberal proponent; and a socially conservative libertarian and a symbol of masculinist politics (Merz).

The social welfarist who ultimately won the race, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer or AKK, raises some serious concerns for the progressive population, given her anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ positions. The socially progressive, openly gay contender Jens Spahn has unabashedly promoted neo-liberal politics as the health minister.

A polity not yet polarised

Germany represents a polity that is as yet not polarised. Here, the socially progressive and social welfarists end up representing opposite ends of the spectrum. Unlike many parts of the world where advocates of social justice are all camping on one side, the country still represents dialogue, diversity and duality.

In 2017, when the parliament voted for marriage equality, it did so despite an explicit disavowal from Merkel. One might have hoped that Merkel would adopt more socially progressive positions, but that would disregard the legacy of the centre-right party she belongs to or her own upbringing by pastor parents. But Merkel opened the possibility of dialogue and social change, releasing her party members to vote on conscience rather than by any party whip.

As long as AKK, the presumptive Chancellor post-2021, continues with the legacy of dialogue and does not let her own conservatism completely eclipse policies, the country may not go down the polarising path India, US, UK and others have.

There are lessons here for Indians if we want to return to sanity in political and social life. The diversity of political positions and opinions, sway but do not completely surrender to emotions. Germans made the choice to remain humane despite an exacting, neo-liberal governance.

Rama Srinivasan is an anthropologist based in Germany.

In an arrangement with The Wire