IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v58y2021i1p131-147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urban conditions for the rise of the far right in the global city of Frankfurt: From austerity urbanism, post-democracy and gentrification to regressive collectivity

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Mullis

Abstract

In Germany, the electoral success of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is one of the most obvious signs of the rise of the far right. In public debates this tends to be associated with Eastern Germany and rural regions. What is neglected is the fact that the party was also remarkably successful in less privileged urban districts across Germany. In this paper I focus on the urban conditions for the rise of the far right. I do so by presenting first results of ethnographic research in two neighbourhoods of Frankfurt am Main. Both – Riederwald and Nied – are marginalised and the AfD gained considerable support there in the 2017 general elections. In the accounts given in 14 expert interviews I identify three crucial urban processes: austerity urbanism, post-democracy and gentrification. Relating them to findings of long-term studies on right-wing attitudes as well as to the concept of ‘downward mobility’, I argue that these processes increase the competition for resources and strengthen feelings of being left behind as well as experiences of being abandoned by political representatives – which are driving forces for the rise of the far right. And yet these experiences alone do not provide sufficient reason to explain the rise of the far right. They are general processes in the neighbourhoods. However, it seems that intersections with existing group-focused enmities drive a shift from social to regressive collectivity , which raises the potential for far-right political subjectification.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Mullis, 2021. "Urban conditions for the rise of the far right in the global city of Frankfurt: From austerity urbanism, post-democracy and gentrification to regressive collectivity," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(1), pages 131-147, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:1:p:131-147
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019878395
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098019878395
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098019878395?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margit Mayer, 2009. "The 'Right to the City’ in the context of shifting mottos of urban social movements," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2-3), pages 362-374, June.
    2. Sebastian Schipper, 2014. "The Financial Crisis and the Hegemony of Urban Neoliberalism: Lessons from Frankfurt am Main," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 236-255, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shenjing He, 2012. "Two Waves of Gentrification and Emerging Rights Issues in Guangzhou, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(12), pages 2817-2833, December.
    2. Peter Marcuse, 2010. "In defense of theory in practice," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 4-12, February.
    3. Pera, Marina, 2020. "Potential benefits and challenges of the relationship between social movements and the commons in the city of Barcelona," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    4. Sergio Belda-Miquel & Jordi Peris Blanes & Alexandre Frediani, 2016. "Institutionalization and Depoliticization of the Right to the City: Changing Scenarios for Radical Social Movements," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 321-339, March.
    5. Massingue, Suzanna Allen & Oviedo, Daniel, 2021. "Walkability and the Right to the city: A snapshot critique of pedestrian space in Maputo, Mozambique," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Justus Uitermark & Walter Nicholls & Maarten Loopmans, 2012. "Cities and Social Movements: Theorizing beyond the Right to the City," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(11), pages 2546-2554, November.
    7. Alessandro Coppola & Alberto Vanolo, 2015. "Normalising autonomous spaces: Ongoing transformations in Christiania, Copenhagen," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(6), pages 1152-1168, May.
    8. Kurt Iveson, 2010. "Some critical reflections on being critical: Reading for deviance, dominance or difference?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 434-441, August.
    9. Cesare Di Feliciantonio, 2017. "Spaces of the Expelled as Spaces of the Urban Commons? Analysing the Re-emergence of Squatting Initiatives in Rome," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 708-725, September.
    10. Kian Goh, 0. "Urbanising climate justice: constructing scales and politicising difference," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 13(3), pages 559-574.
    11. Konrad Miciukiewicz & Frank Moulaert & Andreas Novy & Sako Musterd & Jean Hillier, 2012. "Introduction: Problematising Urban Social Cohesion: A Transdisciplinary Endeavour," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(9), pages 1855-1872, July.
    12. Marc Martí-Costa & Mariona Tomà s, 2017. "Urban governance in Spain: From democratic transition to austerity policies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(9), pages 2107-2122, July.
    13. Camillo Boano & Melissa Garcia Lamarca & William Hunter, 2011. "The Frontlines of Contested Urbanism Mega-projects and Mega-resistances in Dharavil," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 27(3-4), pages 295-326, September.
    14. Sharon M. Meagher, 2010. "Critical thinking about the Right to the City: Mapping garbage routes," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 427-433, August.
    15. Anne Vogelpohl & Tino Buchholz, 2017. "Breaking With Neoliberalization by Restricting The Housing Market: Novel Urban Policies and the Case of Hamburg," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 266-281, March.
    16. Nikos Kapitsinis, 2019. "A review of the current business rates scheme in Wales and the effects of a potential local retention," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(1), pages 10-32, February.
    17. Lila Leontidou, 2010. "Urban Social Movements in ‘Weak’ Civil Societies: The Right to the City and Cosmopolitan Activism in Southern Europe," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(6), pages 1179-1203, May.
    18. Esin Özdemir & Tuna Tasan-Kok, 2019. "Planners’ role in accommodating citizen disagreement: The case of Dutch urban planning," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(4), pages 741-759, March.
    19. Marlon Barbehön & Sybille Münch, 2017. "Interrogating the city: Comparing locally distinct crisis discourses," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(9), pages 2072-2086, July.
    20. Stephen Devereux & Jose Cuesta, 2021. "Urban-Sensitive Social Protection: How Universalized Social Protection Can Reduce Urban Vulnerabilities Post COVID-19," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 21(4), pages 340-360, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:1:p:131-147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.