Neither Left nor Right, but Both? The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in the Wake of European Elections
The 2024 European elections not only provided the occasion for a new German party, the “Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht” (BSW), to emerge but also to obtain 6.2% of the vote.
With this result, BSW ranks fifth among German political parties, clearly ahead of “Die Linke,” the former party from which its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, departed during the winter of 2023-2024. BSW is also expected to reach double-digit scores in local elections scheduled for September in three eastern states. The emergence of a new actor in the German political landscape raises many questions. Is the BSW a left-wing party – or even a right-wing party, as its detractors like to classify it? What kind of audience does the new formation want to address and what is the political discourse supporting it? In short, what does the party represent, and what are its objectives and prospects? This study focuses on the BSW program, where ideas supported by various political currents coexist, and examines its orientations, its electoral strategy and the profile of its leaders. The paper finally analyzes BSW’s first electoral results and its prospects in a rapidly changing society.
Thorsten Holzhauser, born 1985 in Kaiserslautern, works as a research associate at the Stiftung Bundespräsident-Theodor-Heuss-Haus in Stuttgart. He holds a doctorate on the history of the political integration of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in unified Germany (published as Die "Nachfolgepartei", Berlin, 2019) and focuses on the development of the Die Linke party, Sahra Wagenknecht's political doctrine and the German political landscape.
This publication is available in French and German (PDF):
GERMAN: "Nicht links oder rechts, sondern beides? Das Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht nach der Europawahl".
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The Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa) was created in 1954 by an inter-governmental agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and France, in order to raise awareness of Germany in France and analyze Franco-German relations, including in their European and international dimensions. In its conferences and seminars, which bring together experts, political leaders, senior decision-makers and representatives of civil society from both countries, Cerfa develops the Franco-German debate and stimulates political proposals. It regularly publishes studies through two collections: Cerfa notes and studies as well as Franco-German visions.
Cerfa maintains close relations with the network of German foundations and think tanks. In addition to its research and debate activities, Cerfa promotes the emergence of a new Franco-German generation through original cooperation programs. This is how in 2021-2022, Cerfa led a program on multilateralism with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Paris. This program is aimed at young professionals from both countries interested in the issues of multilateralism in the context of their activities. It covered a wide range of themes relating to multilateralism, such as international trade, health, human rights and migration, non-proliferation and disarmament. Previously, Cerfa had participated in the Franco-German future dialogue, co-led with the DGAP from 2007 to 2020, and supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Daniel Vernet group (formerly the Franco-German Reflection Group) which was founded in 2014 upon the initiative of the Genshagen Foundation.
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