No alternative is poison ONLINE TIME



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The end of La Merkel was a new beginning, an opportunity for political culture in Germany. But in what
is it exactly? For our series
"After Merkel" we asked the authors of different areas for suggestions and answers.

Among Angela Merkel took office in 2005 and today has become
in principle the political landscape of Western countries in principle
transformed. The most important element of change is what you call international
he can call populist revolt. It ranges from the election of Donald Trump
the vote on Brexit in Great Britain, the strong role of Rassemblement
National and the movement of yellow jackets in France al
Coalition of right and left populists in Italy. the
Populist – populist mainly on the right – the revolt goes far
beyond the old west, as you can see in Poland, Hungary, India or Brazil.

Historians are in some
Decades of thick books on these populist movements of the years 2010
write – but we are in the middle of a process open at this time.
In its foreign policy, Germany is directly interested in these trends
He addressed. At the national level, they are much weaker, but they are firm
clearly present: with AfD, protests as in Dresden or Chemnitz,
finally and above all in the uninhibited political communication that in
social media take place on a daily basis. We can barely keep our eyes open
Close Before: The Great Political Dispute These days is the
Challenge of liberalism established through the populismWith "liberalism", the whole spectrum of moderate is international
Parties of Social Democrats to Moderate Conservatives –
representatives of "liberal democracy", the world to populists
on the defensive.

What does it mean? Angela Merkel to
do? First of all, Merkel was and is in her political style – justifiably praised –
anti-populism personified: a fact, any polemic person,
negotiation rather than application at all costs. a
Political style of international cooperation and lived civilization. on
At another level, however, the verdict will prove to be more critical
Germany of the period Merkel indirectly promoted populism, which she
he actually wants to prevent. On a deeper level, it's not like that
something with concrete political content – from the economic to the
Migration policy – but with the form
to be a politician. To put it bluntly: liberal democracy has itself in the past decades in
weakened throughout the West and in doing so
first let populism grow.

Difference and dissent are the norm

How? Of course you have to before
clarify the dazzling concept of populism. The programmatic is the
Populism quite flexible, but even here it is less content than the
Crucial form: populism works with the construction of a
Contrast between the People and elites. As the
Political scientist Jan-Werner Müller plausibly elaborated, is the
At the heart of various populism is a claim of exclusive representation. Articles the
real interests and authentic values ​​of one's own people, the "little ones"
People, "the Germans, the French, the Americans, etc. The populists
they are held for true democrats, for those who are the people
immediately give a voice. With the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán
spoken, this is the form of an illiberal democracy: illiberale in the sense
from antipluralista. From the point of view of the populists the liberal is needed
Pluralism, articulation of different interests and
different values, the diversity of the parties and associations,
Finally, the plurality of the media is not, yes, hostile to them
minded. Because it's true: "we
representing people ".

In contrast to the populist
The revolt is the liberal democracy of pluralism as a basic fact
of modern societies: there is no single popular will, but
a variety of perspectives, interests and values. Difference and dissent
the normal case. It is the privilege of liberal democracy, not conflict
to copy, but to articulate. The radical plurality of
To give space to ideological perspectives, to enable speech that
Politically challenged to make the topic, then errors and weaknesses of the
Recognizing social development: this is the DNA of the liberal
Democracy. This requires institutions – from parliaments to courts up to
the media – which give the civil conflicts a conflict. So far
the model of liberal democracy. The question and reality, of course, are open-mouthed
not rarely apart.

And this is where Merkel's politics comes into play: you should certainly
not only the person Angela Merkel for the responsibility, the long one
the ongoing phases of a great coalition do the rest. But one
fundamental problem of the political field of the recent past
is that the radical plurality atrophies, the debate around
political interests and values ​​are exhausted. The motto of the lack of alternatives, to which we have become accustomed, in Germany and in Germany
Elsewhere, poison for liberal democracy. Narrow the room of the
Politician so that in the end only the problem management remains. mostly
Two models capture the attention, with the help of which policy in the last decades
he regularly suggested the lack of alternatives: necessities and morality.

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