Chapter 11

The Volk (‘people’) and its modes of representation by Alternative für Deutschland-AfD (‘Alternative for Germany’)

The concept of the German ‘people’ is central in the discourses of the new political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which emerged on the political scene in 2013. Characterised as a right-wing populist Eurosceptic party, AfD presents itself as giving voice to the German ‘people’, its concerns and fears, in counterposition to other political groupings which it describes as etabliert (established) or Altparteien (old parties). These parties, it asserts, have betrayed the German people both economically and culturally, and this has been exacerbated by their responses to recent migratory movements. In this context, it is pertinent to ask what the term ‘(German) people’ actually means for this political movement: what are its representatives referring to when they speak of the ‘(German) people’? Who are the ‘people’ whose legitimate representative AfD claims to be? What words are used to describe them, and how are they represented in their relationships to other players, such as the government, the established parties, the EU, or migrants and refugees? The present study will focus on the following sources: the bulletin AfD-Kompakt, the election manifestos, and the Twitter accounts of the party and its leader Frauke Petry. First, I analyse the lexemes used to refer to the people, taking into account their connotations in the historical context of German nationalism. Secondly, I conduct a qualitative analysis of key excerpts from these sources in which the ‘people’ are represented in their relationship with their various adversaries. Finally, I bring these ideas together to consider the AfD’s characteristic mode of representation, that is, the way in which it legitimises its claims to speak for the German people.