Germany Against the Alternative for Germany? The Model of an Adapted Militancy

From 2013, the rise of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany challenged militant democracy in Germany, which needed to adapt to a political contender that did not appear to openly reject democracy. This chapter presents the results of research on opposition to Alternative for Germany, by German political, state, and civil society actors between 2013 and 2021. Drawing on a dataset of initiatives opposing the right-wing populist party, this chapter defends the argument that ‘normal politics’ does not capture opposition to Alternative for Germany, despite the adaptation of historical practices of militant democracy to this new political actor with timid signs of a normalization process that are visible in cases of political cooperation. However, intolerant initiatives have recurrently been implemented against the Alternative for Germany. The party is still consistently ostracized in the political arena and the intelligence service monitors its activities. Finally, this chapter shows that adversarial by civil society groups, predominantly tolerant ones, often hide intolerant motives.