Support for Repressive Measures Against Different Forms of Extremism in Germany

Support from the public is an important consideration for state actors aiming to deal with security-related issues like extremism. Previous research shows that agreement with repressive measures can be affected by the level of the perceived threat from extremism and that citizens may include their own as well as extremists’ (ascribed) social group affiliation when considering support. However, data is scarce for specific local and temporal contexts. We explore the impact of extremists’ level of violence and form of extremism (Islamist, Right-Wing, Left-Wing) on support for repressive measures in present-day Germany. We present data from two pre-registered online experiments using representative samples (N = 2190). Participants rated their agreement with proposed repressive measures against specific forms of extremism after reading a scenario describing extremist group activities involving varying levels of violence. Results indicate that support is dependent on both the level of threat individuals perceive and the form of extremism targeted, but differentially so for different measures. The findings provide new insights into the factors determining support for repressive measures against Islamist and other forms of extremism in Germany, two decades after 9/11.