Subnational Politics and the Path of National Democracies - A Preliminary Look at Recent German and American Experiences

Abstract

In Germany and the United States, political factions have emerged in the last decade that have challenged some of the core institutions, conventions, and norms of liberal democratic life. In both countries, subnational units of government—states or municipalities—have operated as staging grounds for parties or factions of parties that reject some or all necessary elements of democratic practice. While they have used different institutional tactics to this end, many basic elements of political strategy can be observed across the two cases.

Keywords

• AfD
• Alternative für Deutschland. Landesverband Thüringen | Erfurt
• Far right parties
• Florida
• Obstruktion [Politik]
• Republican Party