Right-wing extremism and the municipalities left behind

There is good news: The internal migration of the population from rural regions to the cities, which had continued since the reunification of Germany, seems to have come to an end. According to the Federal Institute for Population Research (Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung), the opposite trend can currently be observed. More city dwellers are now moving to smaller towns and rural regions. According to the Berlin Institute for Population and Development (Berlin-Instituts für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung), this trend has been taking place since 2017 and has further intensified in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Now it is no longer the "rural escape" ("Landflucht"), but rather the “urban escape" ("Stadtflucht").

Another positive development can be observed in Germany: the "Equality Report" ("Gleichwertigkeitsbericht") published by the German Government in July 2024 shows that the differences between living conditions in Germany are narrowing. In the so-called ‘structurally weak’ - mostly rural - regions, economy has recently grown more than in ‘structurally strong’ cities and major metropolitan centers. However, this is far from solving the most pressing problem of the rural regions. The German government’s Equality Report has indicated that the population in ‘structurally weak’ regions will shrink significantly in the coming years. The demographic change in the German population therefore remains a challenge. Caution is needed to ensure these positive developments does not lead to the problems caused by almost 30 years of rural escape, which was primarily an east-west migration left to their own devices. According to the motto, the problem of the left-behind regions, which arose due to migration from rural regions to the cities, will solve itself. The current urban escape is a trend, but not a massive movement.¹ To this extent, it cannot halt the decline of many rural regions, which will be significantly intensified by demographic change. Despite current migration to rural regions, many municipalities are still shrinking and the population is ageing. According to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung), around 40% of people in Germany still live in structurally weak regions. The areas most affected are coastal regions, rural areas, old industrial areas and the eastern German states.

Despite the new trend of living in rural areas, the contrast between the booming city and the left-behind countryside still plays a decisive role in the understanding of our times.² In Germany, the distinction between city and countryside is further intensified by an East-West distinction, making it particularly politically explosive. It is no longer just a question of where one lives, but instead of fundamental political attitudes. The reproaches of the "left-green filthy city dwellers" and the "brown east" get to the heart of the divide between living conditions and views on life between "city" and "country", "West" and "East". While in this comparison the city usually counts as the winner and the countryside as the loser, there is a lot of talk about how the rural areas that have been left behind or are structurally weak could be "helped". A wide variety of support programs are being initiated. The federal government supports with the "overall German support system for structurally weak regions" (Gesamtdeutsches Fördersystem für strukturschwache Regionen), which comprises 20 federal support programs from seven ministries in six support areas, to achieve equal living conditions.

The problem of regions being left behind is usually understood as a problem of precisely these regions being left behind. However, such an understanding does not reflect the complexity of the situation. It fails to recognize the interplay between the countryside and the city. The left-behind municipalities are not just a problem which relates to the very same regions, but rather a matter for the Federal Republic as a whole. Not only because the creation of "equivalent living conditions" is a constitutional goal (Article 72 (2) Basic Law). But also because there is an unquestionable connection between regions that have been left behind and the emergence of right-wing extremism, which is becoming an increasing threat to the liberal democracy of the Federal Republic as a whole.

The migration of (qualified) people to cities that has taken place over the last three decades has led to a lack of people in rural regions who are able and willing to contribute economically, socially and politically. There was a lack of people taking over businesses or helping to shape club and leisure life. If the region continues to drift economically, it means less financial income for the municipality, which in turn means less political influence; public institutions have to be closed and infrastructure has to be reduced. The municipalities are becoming desolate. This process will continue in the coming years due to demographic change, despite the fact that movement from the rural regions to the cities has stopped.

This trend is a particular problem because the declining regions are a breeding ground for right-wing extremism. The gaps in the social, cultural, infrastructural and economic areas left behind by the movements of the population are often filled by right-wing extremists.³ For example, with their own brand of cultural and leisure activities, as well as social commitment. Vacant honorary posts are also strategically filled (Heitmeyer, Freiheit,and Sitzer, 2020: 174). They can present themselves as caretakers who do something unlike the inactive municipality (Heitmeyer, Freiheit,and Sitzer, 2020: 190). As the inability of the local authority is often seen as the inability of the entire state, citizens feel abandoned by politicians and left alone with their problems.

Trust in the ability and willingness of the state and politics as a whole to take action is fading. This is, of course, a problem for a democratic form of government, which is essentially dependent on the citizens' trust for its success. Furthermore, structurally weak rural regions are also attractive for right-wing extremists from the point of view of self-management. In structurally weak regions, they can buy affordable houses and establish them as retreats for the scene. In some cases, they also build up their own economic structures, by founding companies that primarily or exclusively employ right-wing sympathisers or even pursue an active settlement policy (Heitmeyer, Freiheit,and Sitzer, 2020: 173). Thus, left-behind regions not only offer right-wing extremists the opportunity to establish themselves in the local community, but also one to further expand their own structures.

If the popularity of right-wing extremism is no longer limited to a few local areas, but spreads, this becomes a problem for the entire state. Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing in Germany at the moment. Right-wing extremism and right-wing populism are a rapidly growing threat to Germany’s liberal democracy. The 2024 state elections in Saxony and Thuringia in September made this painfully clear once again. For this reason, the equalization of living conditions in all municipalities is not only in the interest of the left-behind municipalities, but rather in the state’s interest as a whole for reasons of self-preservation. The role of rural regions in the fight for an open society is often underestimated and that of cities is overestimated (Heitmeyer, Freiheit,and Sitzer, 2020: 72 and 205). However, the fate of liberal democracy in Germany is largely decided in the municipalities left behind.