Teresa Völker, Mainstreaming the Far Right

Join the Center for Critical Democracy Studies for a seminar on "Mainstreaming the Far Right: How Far-Right Actors and Ideas Shape Public Debates" with Teresa Völker (WZB Berlin Social Science Center) and commentary by Friederike Windel (AUP).

The seminar is organized by Mirjam Dageförde (AUP).
 

ABSTRACT
The far right is gaining power in many liberal democracies. Far-right actors are protesting on the streets, mobilising support on social media, getting elected to parliaments and participating in governments. But how can we explain the rise of the far right? In this talk, Dr Teresa Völker presents findings from her research on the mainstreaming of the far right and how far-right actors and ideas shape public debates. Focusing on the German case, she traces how the boundaries of what can be said have shifted over time, making far-right ideas increasingly acceptable in society.

BIO
Dr. Teresa Völker is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Civil Society Research located at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Free University Berlin and currently visiting Science Po Paris. She researches political communication, political parties and protest in contemporary democracies, with a special focus on far-right politics. Previously, she worked at the WZB Protest-Monitoring, a project on protest and political radicalisation in Germany and at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. She received her PhD from the Free University of Berlin in 2024.