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Wednesday, March 06, 2019

Germany's New Political Divide

Listening to classical music in a park in Leipzig
(photo: Mustafah Abdulaziz for NY Times)
no copyright infringement intended



... That all changed in the 21st century. The new divide is between two groups that the British author David Goodheart terms “anywheres” and “somewheres.” The anywheres are the highly educated, urban and socially liberal; the somewheres live in the countryside, have a lower level of education and hold more traditional notions of family and society ...

An article from today's NY Times analysing the growth of ecologists (the Greens) and Free-Democrats (both viewed as anywheres, while distinct each other - the Greens are primarily ecologists, and the Free-Democrats are primarily pro-business - but both share the same values when it comes to cultural issues, like gen politics, immigration, etc). For the author of this article, the traditional big parties failed to give effective responses to the challenges raised by the anywheres (which are after all the new generation, thus representing the icon of the future, like it or not). Well, I would say that it's food for thought. It remains to see whether the future landscape in Germany would be Greens against Free-Democrats (both very open, but remaining strongly on dispute over nature vs technology/business). After all, Free-Democrats, as well as the Greens, are not newcomers in the German politics and had in their pretty long history various ups and downs.






(Zoon Politikon)

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