2024/01/31 by Anna-Sophie Heinze · 1 voice · 44 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Communism, Protests, Social Movements #Criminology #Far right #German legal, social, and political studies #Law #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Psychology #Sociology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/01925121231221961
published in International Political Science Review 46(1), 108-124 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2024/01/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08
Today, many far-right parties maintain youth wings, providing opportunities to mobilise members and future party leaders. However, they are often neglected in the study of the far right’s organisation. This article explores the development of the ‘Young Alternative’ and its ambivalent relationship with the ‘Alternative for Germany’. Theoretically, it argues that far-right youth wings can act as important drivers of radicalisation. It also tries to understand conflicts between far-right youth organisations and parties by discussing the interactions between organisational development and radicalisation. Empirically, it opens the ‘black box’ of the German case by drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including semi-structured interviews with high-ranking ‘Young Alternative’ members, (social) media communication and official documents of the ‘Young Alternative’, ‘Alternative for Germany’ and intelligence services. Overall, the article underlines the importance of far-right youth wings as part of the broader party organisation and offers substantial theoretical and empirical research perspectives.