Popular support for democracy in Unified Germany: critical democrats

Abstract

First paragraph: John Le Carre's 1968 novel 'a Small Town in Germany' gave voice to a recurring mid-to-late 20th Century fear that the National Socialist virus which had infected Germany earlier in the Twentieth Century lay dormant rather than eliminated, ready to return if the circumstances proved propitious. Le Carre has thus far been proven wrong, and nobody today seriously doubts that Germans have fully internalised democratic values. Indeed, the country is today much feted not only for its good governance and stability but also its much vaunted social model. This has sustained despite the inevitable instability caused by the reunification of the country in 1990 which saw a large portion of the country reintegrated into a democratic system following the fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc. Nonetheless, anxieties common to many Western countries arise too in contemporary Germany, including the emergence of the far-right Alternative for Germany and the related increase in anti-migrant and refugee sentiment. This begs the question, just how robust is the support of the German public for democracy?