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Strategy or Vacuum – Sahra Wagenknecht, The Left and a Left-Authoritarian Party for Germany

Extremism
Nationalism
Political Parties
Party Systems
Voting Behaviour
Sarah Wagner
Queen's University Belfast
Sarah Wagner
Queen's University Belfast
L. Constantin Wurthmann
Universität Mannheim

Abstract

The possibility of a new political party can significantly alter the political landscape. In Germany, a new party launched under the leadership of Sahra Wagenknecht. Wagenknecht, former leader of The Left, is known for her opposition to immigration and her left-authoritarian party, BSW, is predicted to be successful in elections. Germany, as many countries in Europe, has a left-authoritarian supply gap. To understand whether the demand for such a party in Germany comes from leadership strategy or due to a vacuum in the party system, this research uses individual-level survey data to identify the demographic, ideological and valence factors that may lead people to vote for this new party. Importantly, this research examines this from two perspectives; asking respondents to rate their propensity to vote for firstly, a party led by Sahra Wagenknecht and second, an abstract left-authoritarian party. This research aims to identify whether the most important factor for the potential success of a Wagenknecht party is defined through her personality or rather through the positions she advocates. Through analysing a variety of different factors that could potentially contribute to the success of this new party, this research examines the relationship between structural, ideological and personality factors that play a role in the formation of a new party.