Political Participation on the Fringes of Democratic Societies

A functioning democracy needs to equally represent the interests of its population. A lack of political participation consequently leads to a problem of legitimacy of the democratic system itself. Besides manifold explanatory approaches of identifying motivational factors for political participation, the simple strength of political convictions as well as the existence of extreme political attitudes play a central role in explaining the individual’s involvement in the process of participation. The question asked is how individuals holding attitudes directed against the free democratic basis order of the German society take part in practices of political participation. This research question is located in a paradox, which on the one hand emphasizes the need of the democratic system for a strong political participation but on the other hand fears the destabilization of this very system through extremism. Plentiful of research concerning voting of right-wing parties has been conducted. Instead of focusing on traditional explanations this paper centers around possible “pull factors” primarily stemming from the right-wing “supply side”. It is therefore also aiming to answer the question: What is it that the right-wing-spectrum does to motivate people to participate accordingly, who under regular circumstances would not vote or participate in their favor? Possible pull factors are among others the concentration of events such as demonstrations or gatherings in a certain region, the frequency of crimes as an indicator of visible delinquency, the number of members of right-wing organizations, election success, publications, exploitation of current events such as the refugee crisis or a complaisant infrastructure. In this context possible operationalizations of such factors regarding practicability and limits will be discussed in order to provide a basis for further analyses of specific circumstances leading to right-wing voting behavior and additional forms political participation.