Extra-Parliamentary Opposition within a Transforming Political Space: The AfD and FDP under Merkel III between 2013 and 2017

Abstract

The federal elections of 2013 generated an unusual situation for the German party system: a very strong extra-parliamentary opposition. The liberal FDP and the newly emerging AfD, with 4.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively, of the votes, ended up as the extra-parliamentary opposition, although both parties were ultimately successful in entering the German parliament in 2017. What strategies did these parties apply? How did they manage to get into parliament in 2017? The German case presents a unique situation, with the FDP, an experienced mainstream government party, and the AfD, a challenger party, belonging to the extra-parliamentary opposition. Clarifying first the concept and function of an extra-parliamentary opposition, the article describes, using manifesto data, the transformation of the German political space and the growing salience of the new cultural divide. The AfD contributed to establishing this divide by applying populist rhetoric. By contrast, the FDP succeeded by using a party-elite-led re-branding and re-framing of economic issues in the times of digitalisation.