Voices Against the Populist Far-Right?

Abstract In this paper, we examine whether local politicians in German district councils ( Kreistage ) adhere to social norms of demarcation from the populist far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD). Within Europe, Germany stands out as a rare example of consistent far-right exclusion at the federal and state levels. Recent research suggests that social norm adherence, rather than strategic calculations, explains the persistence of such cordons sanitaires. However, little is known about whether this explanation applies at the local level. We test the norms-based approach by analyzing the sentiment of council speeches at Germany’s district level—an environment with minimal strategic incentives for ostracism. Using a novel corpus of 18,598 speeches in nine districts, we examine whether the AfD is addressed more negatively in speeches than other parties are and whether party position explains variation in these responses. We complement the quantitative analysis with a qualitative exploration of different critique types directed at the AfD. Our results strongly support the norms-based explanation of rhetorical ostracism, as all parties demarcate themselves from the AfD. However, we find significant differences between center-left and center-right parties driven by ideological, and actor-level factors. Our study not only provides the first empirical examination of parliamentary reactions to the AfD in local contexts but also enhances our understanding of contemporary far-right politics and mainstream responses.