Rise of Populist Movements and Large Numbers of Refugees in Germany
Germany has witnessed a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers migrating into the country in the recent past. As of 2016, the number of refugees seeking asylum in Germany was more than 700,000, which represented a huge increase from the less than 100,000 refugees who asylum in the country in 2006. The huge numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Germany has come at a time when Europe is facing a refugee crisis. According to Postelnicescu (2016), Europe is currently facing a refugee crisis that has generated concerns on whether it should maintain its core democratic values and freedoms or maintain freedom and justice. The increase in the number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe including Germany is attributable to the prevalence of terrorism, which is a global security concern. Moreover, this increase is attributable to the current security situation in the Middle East. For Germany, the arrival of large number of refugees has seemingly sparked the rise of populist movements. This paper seeks to examine this causality and provide alternative causal explanations for this issue.
The Rise of Populist Movements in Germany
Germany has experienced a significant increase in populist movements across the country, particularly the New Right movement. The rise of these populist movements is partly because Germans have been experiencing a sense of disillusionment on the right for the past few years. As a result, many Germans from the center of the society are identifying themselves with the New Right populist movement. This trend has occurred at a time when the refugee crisis facing Europe, particularly Germany, has exacerbated Germans’ frustration and at a time when political debate toughens and violence increases (Amann et al., 2015). The rise of the New Right in Germany is characterized by a public mood in which many people are united against the state, elected officials, and government institutions.
The rise of populist movements has been characterized with the emergence of several populist groups like Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the neo-Nazi NPD. Public mood against the state, its officials, and institutions was recently evident in the decision by representatives of these two populist groups to vote against the refugees in the regional council. Given the emergence of these populist movements, Germany is gradually developing antipathy towards democracy while xenophobia is reported to...
For instance, there have been numerous cases of right-wing violence that are targeted towards refugees as refugee hostels are burned nearly everyday. While such acts are currently carried out by a radical minority, populist movements are becoming more attractive to many Germans unlike in the previous decades.
Causality Between Populist Movements and the Refugee Crisis in Germany
While populist movements continue to rise throughout Germany, the country has also witnessed a significant rise in the number of refugees seeking asylum. The large numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Germany is attributable to the open gate approach adopted by Angela Merkel (Postelnicescu, 2016). Merkel has maintained a relatively open refugee policy, which has contributed to a huge increase in the number of refugees in Germany. It is estimated that more than a million refugees arrived in Germany in 2015 while 745,545 asylum seekers arrived in Germany in 2016. Given its relatively open refugee policy, Germany has remained an attractive option for asylum seekers. As a result, millions of people fleeing conflicts and war from various parts of the world are seeking asylum in Europe, particularly Germany because of its open gate approach in handling refugees. Actually, the German Chancellor adopted an open gate refugee policy while other European countries refused, which has significantly increased the numbers of asylum seekers in the country.
Since populist movements have risen at a time when the number of refugees have also increased in Germany, it is quite clear that these two trends are interrelated. Fischer (2016) states that Merkel’s approach to the refugee situation and crisis has resulted in the rise of a right-wing protest party. This implies that causality can be established between the rise of populist movements and the arrival of huge number of refugees in Germany. Causality can be established on the premise that the increase in the numbers of refugees has unsettled the German society that it has been for a long time (Amann et al., 2015). The influx of refugees seems to have unsettled the German society and provided an avenue for Germans to be increasingly identified with populist movements, organizations, and groups.
Populist movements have risen because of fears and concerns that refugees would harm the German society. For instance, a recent survey by TNS Forschung found that a significant percentage of the German population…
