The Guardian, 27 sept 2023.
German politics has a built-in firewall against the far right. It’s beginning to crack
Germany is more resilient to populism than its neighbours. But parties such as Alternative für Deutschland are testing it to the limit.
The Germans have a term for what holds them together: Wehrhafte Demokratie. It roughly translates as fortified democracy, but that does not fully render its meaning. In essence, it refers to the idea that the state has the right to act against those who threaten the liberal democratic order.
