Increasing toleration for the intolerant? ‘Adapted militancy’ and German responses to Alternative für Deutschland

Germany is conceived as the ‘ideal-type’ militant democracy, but until the emergence of the AfD in 2013 it was an exceptional case lacking an electorally successful right-wing populist party. Unlike most former targets of militant responses, the AfD accepts rules of the liberal democracy. This raises the central question addressed in the article: How does the emergence of an electorally successful populist right-wing party affect practices of German militant democracy? Data on initiatives opposing the AfD between 2013 and 2020 shows that while the judicial, rights-restricting pillar of the militant model is limited, it remains strong in political and civil society responses. In addition, the AfD’s opponents continuously navigate between tolerant and intolerant modes of engagement, depending on actor type and political context. This pattern of opposition forms the basis of an ‘adapted-militancy’ model of initiatives opposing populist parties (IOPPs). The article argues that two types of political ‘learning’ can explain the evolution of militant democracy in Germany: first, learning from the expectation of their own respective voters and from the institutional constraints encountered in the process of delivering responses to the AfD, and second, adaptation to AfD’s changing strategies. The research suggests that the populist message and electoral success requires that the AfD’s opponents become – at least, in appearance – increasingly tolerant of the intolerant.