Prof. Hartmut Rosa on Populism in Germany

Professor Hartmut Rosa is a keen observer of the rise of right-wing populism. Born in Baden-Württemberg, the bestselling author and top sociologist has lived and taught for over two decades at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, in the heart of "Höcke-Land."

Projections suggest that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) may secure approximately 30 percent of the vote in Thuringia during the upcoming state elections in September, potentially resulting in an AfD victory.

In light of this, we spoke with Prof. Hartmut Rosa for a special podcast released in German over the weekend. He focuses on understanding the party rather than condemning them. Here are the highlights from our discussion:

Pioneer: Is the AfD not the solution, but perhaps the warning sign of a flaw in the system?

Prof. Rosa: It's an error message and, thus, should be taken seriously. Something is not right here — in more than one way.

Pioneer: Traditional media, especially public broadcasters, have been heavily criticized, correct?

Prof. Rosa: Even on the left, many people perceive a coordinated collaboration between the government elite and the media, leading to a lack of trust. During the COVID crisis, as well as the Ukraine conflict or the Middle East crisis, there was a tendency to perceive a particular political stance as the correct and morally charged one.

There's a notion of a true and righteous position versus a hateful one, which I see as a problem in our discourse, though not necessarily indicative of state-controlled media.

Pioneer: Is the disregard for opposing opinions a critical issue?

Prof. Rosa: One problem is the moral contempt for differing opinions. For example, Jürgen Kaube in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) portrays Mützenich, the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary group, as a despicable figure in German politics. He accuses him of cowardice simply for considering the possibility of freezing the war in Ukraine. This kind of moral discrediting of other opinions, even in leading media or broadcasters, is, in my opinion, one of the main issues.

Pioneer: It can't be media criticism alone, can it?

Prof. Rosa: I see this tendency towards right-wing populist opposition as an expression of profound alienation and, thus, the loss of a resonance chamber. Democracy only works when citizens listen to and respect each other and trust each other to be able to respond. We are experiencing the expression of a profound alienation where people have the feeling that the institutions, the elites, even what they perceive as state media, live in a detached world that we cannot reach. This is a lack of self-efficacy.

Pioneer: Can you call the lack of self-efficacy a contemporary phenomenon?

Prof. Rosa: It certainly means that I don't play a role in the system, and they don't take me into account. This leads to resonance-based alienation. We witness a type of aggression in which one doesn't want to hear the other. They should be silent, go away, be imprisoned or at least stopped. My diagnosis is that this behavior stems from a lack of self-efficacy.

Pioneer: What does "resonance" mean in this context?

Prof. Rosa: Resonance doesn't just mean being a receiver, wanting to hear the other, but also having the confidence to express one's own opinion in response, not in the sense of telling the other to shut up, but rather that we can move along together. I think this experience of efficacy has been significantly undermined in East Germany.

Pioneer: What caused this feeling of alienation in East Germany?

Prof. Rosa: Perhaps because in the course of the transformation after 1990, Western institutions were simply imported. Even the buildings were built with the expectation of gratitude from the people. But that didn't foster a sense of self-efficacy.

Pioneer: Can you describe this lack of efficacy in your daily life as a sociology professor in Thuringia?

Prof. Rosa: We have a guest house in Sonneberg, provided by the student union in Thüringen. It's in the constituency where we have an AfD district administrator. It's a rural area with a village-like structure, where people feel they live in a kind of precarious community, already precarious because young people are constantly leaving. Now, the state is intervening from outside, for example, by setting up a refugee center. This gives them the feeling that their protective shell is being trespassed.

Pioneer: And this pattern repeats itself?

Prof. Rosa: That's why the heating unit debate escalated. People there felt that there was a hand reaching into their houses and taking out their heating. This corresponds to the fear of vaccination. The hand of the state is reaching into my body. They're injecting something into me. And they're getting into my brain, trying to dictate how I think and how I speak. That's the perception, the primary feeling that motivates political thought.

Pioneer: Perhaps the East isn't an exception, but a kind of early warning system for a fundamental problem?

Prof. Rosa: I would agree with this diagnosis. One sign is when politicians claim they can't connect with the opposing side, often due to being shouted down. It's a crisis of resonance.

Pioneer: What does that mean?

Prof. Rosa: The mutual resonance space of listening and responding is damaged. For this diagnosis, it's essential to understand that resonance doesn't refer to an echo chamber where we all think, believe, love and live the same way. Rather, it means that we don't perceive the difference, the otherness of the other, as a problem but as an opportunity and a challenge.

Pioneer: I read in your work the term "shrinking present," which you didn't coin but which you have adopted. What does this term mean?

Prof. Rosa: Today, we use Zoom or other digital communication technologies. In the past, we only had the telephone. This present tends to shrink because everything is constantly changing. If someone were to visit Dresden once a year, they would notice that the city looks different every time. The fact that the half-life of existence is shrinking leads to an experience of alienation, which also undermines self-efficacy. Additionally, there's a rather gloomy expectation of the future. Up until recently, most people felt that we were working hard to give our children a better life.

Pioneer: ...which worked very well for a long time.

Prof. Rosa: The future was a promise that we were moving towards. But today, we've largely lost that feeling. I think you can see that in the slogan of the present time. The prevailing conviction in the media and politics is that this optimistic assumption was an illusion.

Pioneer: How is this new German pessimism justified?

Prof. Rosa: We must brace for further wars, conflicts and armament. When we lose faith in both past progress and future potential – when the past becomes synonymous with colonialism, sexism, imperialism and homophobia – we forfeit our optimism for change, and the drive to explore the new fades away.

Pioneer: Is this why some gravitate towards — and even flirt with — ideologies like the Third Reich?

Prof. Rosa: Given the reasoning we've just discussed, it's hardly unexpected. When the present loses its appeal, it's natural to seek solace in a familiar past.

Pioneer: But the past, especially the Third Reich, was so unattractive, inhuman, unethical and economically unsuccessful. So why do so many people in Thuringia find it attractive rather than repulsive?

Prof. Rosa: Unfortunately, empirical social research shows that people vote for the AfD not in spite of Höcke but because of him. His AfD embodies the highest level of provocation.

Another explanatory factor is xenophobia, the rejection of the other. This is particularly pronounced when one is insecure about one's own identity. This blatant racism and rejection of everything foreign comes from a lack of self-efficacy.

Pioneer: What gives you hope despite these apocalyptic diagnoses?

Prof. Rosa: We're obviously in a deep crisis. But it doesn't take much to bring about change.

With the AfD, for example, you can clearly see a state of anger. But that's not a happy state of affairs. It's not something people want to remain in. So, I think there's a deep longing for things to change.

You can listen to the entire conversation with Professor Hartmut Rosa's in German on a recent episode of the Pioneer Podcast. He also shares how he personally interacts with AfD members and voters, turning encounters into opportunities for insight rather than cultural battles.

• In today’s Pioneer Podcast, we spoke with the FDP parliamentary leader, Christian Dürr, about the future of our current governing coalition and his party’s plan to boost the German economy.

• Aharon Haliva, the head of Israeli military intelligence, is resigning.

• The life of Josephine Baker is on display at the New National Gallery in Berlin.

Yesterday, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) leadership presented "12 points to accelerate the economic transition.” This plan has caused deep tensions within the coalition because it demands everything the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens are unwilling to do voluntarily. It is 100% in line with the country's economic situation but 0% in line with the actions of the coalition government:

• Freezing all social benefits for three years

• A 30% cut in the citizen's allowance for those who refuse to pay benefits

• The German supply chain law is to be suspended

• No pension at 63

• No further state subsidies for solar plants and wind turbines

In the Pioneer Podcast, we spoke with FDP parliamentary leader Christian Dürr. When questioned about the Christian Democratic Union's (CDU/CSU) evaluation of the document, with Markus Söder referring to it as a "divorce decree" for the coalition, Dürr vehemently dismissed this idea.

I asked Dürr, given these twelve demands, what is the probability that the coalition will last until the end?

Because:

Dürr is not pessimistic about the Greens' and SPD's less than enthusiastic response to the FDP's proposals because now is the time to act:

Dürr makes it clear that the German economy has been struggling for many years, not just since the FDP came to power:

You can listen to the entire interview with Christian Dürr in today’s Pioneer Podcast.

Meanwhile, calls for new elections are growing amongst the opposition. Markus Söder (CDU) added fuel to the fire by drawing a historical comparison:

Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) agrees:

She even has the perfect election date in mind: September 1st - when new state parliaments are elected in Thuringia and Saxony - should be the day when all citizens go to the polls.

Mistakes with consequences: Aharon Haliva, the head of Israeli military intelligence, is resigning - his term will end when his successor is appointed. His resignation is the first fallout from the mistakes surrounding the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel.

Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid praised Halevi's decision, writing on X:

Farewell: Martin Brudermüller will leave BASF next Thursday – after 36 years with the company. In May, he will become the new chairman of the supervisory board of Mercedes-Benz. On April 25th, he will hand over the CEO position at BASF to Markus Kamieth, the current head of Asian operations.

In an interview with Handelsblatt, he gives his first assessment of the state of the German economy. While Brudermüller and BASF have a good dialog with Olaf Scholz, he emphasizes that Germany is far from realizing its industrial potential:

Yesterday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual report on global military spending.

In 2023, for the ninth year in a row, total spending reached a record high of $2.4 trillion. This is not only the highest figure recorded by SIPRI since 1969 but also the most significant increase since 2009, at 6.8 percent compared to 2022.

Top Spenders: Not surprisingly, the United States leads the pack, accounting for 37 percent of global military spending. It is followed by China (12 percent) and Russia (4.5 percent). Germany ranks seventh with a 2.7 percent share (about $67 billion).

Icon: In 1925, the then 19-year-old Josephine Baker made her debut in "La Revue Nègre" at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. She became one of the most celebrated artists of her time. Around a century ago, at the Nelson Theater on Kurfürstendamm, she mesmerized her Berlin audience with her sensual style of dancing, occasionally even performing partially unclothed.

Double life: Racism in the U.S. drove her to Europe, where she was celebrated as a star and not subjected to hostility. In 1937, Baker married French Jew and industrialist Jean Lion and eventually became a French citizen. When the Nazis advanced two years later, Baker initially helped the Red Cross. Eventually, she became involved with the French resistance movement, the Résistance. The dancer trained there as an agent.

Not only did she hide refugees from Nazi persecution at her estate in France, but she also delivered secret messages. She would hide information in her touring luggage using invisible ink on her sheet music. After the war, she was awarded the Legion of Honor and the Médaille de la Résistance for her efforts.

The New National Gallery in Berlin is currently hosting an exhibition dedicated to Baker. The curators of the Neue Nationalgalerie present her as an "Icon in Motion."

Until May 1st, you still have time to see the exhibition about the life's work of Josephine Baker, a woman who wanted to encourage others to do good:

Wishing you a wonderful start to your day. Stay informed. Stay with me.

Best wishes,