Authoritarianism and Civil Society
Project management: Prof. Dr. Oliver Nachtwey
Project team: Maurits Heumann, Flurin Dummermuth, Farah Fae Grütter, Jan-Moritz Dolinga
Project duration: 11.2017-1.2019
Funded by: Campact
The exploratory study “Authoritarianism and Civil Society” was developed in collaboration with the political organization Campact e.V. We conducted 16 narrative interviews with Campact sympathizers and collected socio-structural data by means of a standardized questionnaire. The respondents’ simultaneous references to Campact and AfD pointed to both a left-liberal political engagement and a proximity to authoritarian politics. We took this apparent contradiction as a starting point to ask about neo-authoritarian forms of political participation. The analysis and evaluation of the data revealed the existence of variants of a new authoritarianism that are specific to certain groups and situations and that can be interpreted as reactions on the part of civil society to increased vulnerability to anomy. The study thus contributed to reaching a better understanding of the heterogeneous practical expressions and normative orientations of the new authoritarianism.