According to a study, the majority of Germans are satisfied with democracy, right-wing extremist attitudes are less widespread than they used to be. However, the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine are generating new fears. The result is increased aggression and "anti-democratic motives".
According to a study, right-wing extremist attitudes are no longer as widespread in Germany as they were two years ago. The authors of the Leipzig authoritarianism study, which was presented in Berlin, nevertheless see society in crisis mode.
As the team led by psychologists Oliver Decker and Elmar Brähler determined, 82 percent of citizens are satisfied with the constitutional democracy. In a representative survey between March and May of this year, however, only half were satisfied with everyday democratic practice.
The corona pandemic and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine have strengthened those responsible at federal and state level. Their actions also find broad approval. But this "authoritarian security" comes at a price. Feelings of powerlessness and the limitations of one's own life are accepted, but also lead to "an increase in aggression". Right-wing extremist attitudes are receding into the background, but other "anti-democratic motives" are gaining in importance at the same time.
Under the title "Authoritarian Dynamics in Uncertain Times", researchers from the University of Leipzig have presented the eleventh study of this kind on political and anti-democratic attitudes in Germany since 2002. The study is published every two years and is supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is close to the Greens, and the Otto Brenner Foundation of IG Metall.
