Populist Ostpolitik: The impact of AfD and BSW populist rhetoric on the German discourse on the Russia-Ukraine war
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2025-06-23
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en
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This thesis employs a comparative discourse analysis to research how populist rhetoric from the right-wing AfD and the left-wing BSW has influenced the foreign policy discourse of the mainstream CDU/CSU and SPD parties on the Russia-Ukraine War. By analyzing party rheto-ric from the period leading up to the 2025 federal election, this study has found that despite the framing of the AfD and the BSW, the policy stances of CDU/CSU and SPD remain fully in favor of Ukraine. The AfD employed mostly nationalist and economic arguments, and the BSW emphasized pacifism and anti-imperialism, while both parties engage in aggressor apol-ogism. These frames led to both the CDU/CSU and the SPD ruling out coalitions with the AfD and the BSW, ultimately resulting in a CDU/CSU-SPD coalition government, despite the electoral gains of both the AfD and the BSW.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen