The Longing for the Dictator

Why are so many Germans turning their back on Western liberal democracy and embracing authoritarian solutions?  Spiegel columnist Jan Fleischhauer sees the problem primarily in the eastern states where nearly half the population votes for either the authoritarian Left Party (Die Linke) or the authoritarian AfD (Alternative for Germany).  What unites the far left and the far right?  Both parties demand that Germany leave NATO and sever the traditional partnership with the United States; both parties demand reconciliation with Russia, adore Vladimir Putin, and strongly support the brutal dictatorship of Assad in the Syrian conflict. Here is Fleischhauer: 

Wenn eine der größten Errungenschaften des Westens das "angstfreie Andersseindürfen für alle" ist, wie es der Philosoph Odo Marquard genannt hat, dann hat der Osten auch 26 Jahre nach Mauerfall nicht wirklich aufgeschlossen. Wer für das Recht auf Individualismus und gegen die Kuhstallwärme der Volksgemeinschaft eintritt, hat dort bis heute einen schweren Stand.

("If what the late philosopher Odo Marquard stated is true, namely that one of the great achievements of the West is "no one should be afraid to be different" then we must admit that 25 years after the fall of the Wall the east never really embraced this.  Anyone who stands for the the right of individualism instead of the cow-barn warmth of the collective has difficulties there even today.")

The AfD party makes clear where its sympathies lie: the party leaders are welcome guests at the Russian embassy in Berlin: 

Kritische Töne gegen die US-Politik gehören nicht nur zum guten Ton in der Partei. Immer wieder kursieren an der Basis - unter anderem via Facebook - auch krude Verschwörungstheorien, in denen die USA für alles Übel in der Welt verantwortlich gemacht wird.

("Within the party criticism of US policies are encouraged.  Over and over the party base propagates crude conspiracy theories on Facebook where the US is made responsible for everything bad that happens in the world.")

 

Many even embrace the "good" leader Bashar al-Assad - a dictator who has slaughtered four hundred thousand of his own people with barrel bombs and poison gas and forcing millions to flee for their lives:

Recently, in an article I wrote about Thomas Mann's novella Mario und der Zauberer I quoted this passage from Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom: 

"The frightened individual seeks for somebody or something to tie his self to; he cannot bear to his own inidividual self any longer, and he tries frantically to get rid of it and to feel security again by the elimination of this burden of the self.  Masochism is one way toward this goal. The different forms which the moschistic strivings assume have one aim: to get rid of the individual self, to lose oneself; in other words, to get rid of the burden of freedom."

I can't think of a better explanation for why people would gravitate towards Die Linke, the Afd, to Putin, or to Donald Trump. 

Comments

[Zyme]

"I can't think of a better explanation for why people would gravitate towards Die Linke, the Afd, to Putin, or to Donald Trump."

There might be a different reason at work:
I am sure most people in Europe are of the opinion that no system is as good at sharing newly acquired wealth during economic boom times across societies as democracy.
However this does not necessarily imply they consider this political system the best one to withstand significant challenges.

For my part I am so sick of established political parties ignoring European interests (or national ones for that matter). Sick of them indulging in "values" that where nowhere to be seen when this great place we know as Europe today blossomed.

It is about time we rediscover the attitude which turned our continent into the realm of riches and civilization we know today. This attitude certainly did not involve development aid and refugee accommodation.
It involved heading out into the world and taking whatever was there to be taken.

When the resolution required to do so cannot be formed by a populace as a whole, we would be better off being governed by few instead of seeing everyone have their try - and fail at global politics.

[KR]

Identity, nation, value, attitude and similar sophisticated stuff usually are almost meaningless for individuals. Such discussions indicate that common people are afraid of having to pay the bill.

[David]

Hey Zyme, Europe "blossomed" when it embraced the Enlightenment and enlightened principles - such as liberal democracy.

Every time Europe abandons those principles it results in tragedy and takes decades to recover.

[Zyme]

Don't you think Europe's blossoming had more to do with the riches acquired during the age of colonialism (so roughly from late 15th/early 16th century till mid-20th century)?

The age of enlightenment simply happened to occur during this phase.
And in contrast to its effects on Europe itself, I would assume you agree that its principles were not noticed considerably by subjects in the colonies :-)

[KR]

I'm sure Europe's blossoming had more to do with high productivity after WWII which would not have been possible without peace and democracy.

[Zyme]

KR, I get the feeling we have different things in mind here. What I wanted to describe by blossoming was the phase in which Europe rose from the "Medieval mediocrity" and became the primary spot for wealth, arts and science in the world.

I did not think of the era in which Europeans started to buy fridges and TVs..

The former was perfectly possible without democracy. And hopefully, democracy's biggest merit is not providing the nicest household devices :-)

[KR]

In the phase you mean enjoying wealth, arts and science was a privilege of very few people.

[James]

There seems to be mutual admiration between Putin and Trump.