Far-Right Parties and Movements
The AfD as a Far-Right Party – Ideology, Organisation, Influence
In her lecture, Dr. Anna-Sophie Heinze will briefly outline the AfD’s ideology, organisation, and potential influence, demonstrating that the party represents a typical far-right party of the kind we can now observe internationally in most countries.
Biographical Notes
Dr. Anna-Sophie Heinze holds a doctorate in Political Science and specializes in political parties, democracy, and the far right. Currently, she is working as an Academic Councillor at the University of Trier. In the summer semester, she will be holding the professorship “Das politische System der BRD und der EU” at Leuphana University of Lüneburg.
Rising “New” Nationalism Among Turkey’s Youth: At the Crossroads of Right-Wing Politics, Democracy, and Secularism
Young people in Turkey, across socio-economic backgrounds and ethnic identities, express negative attitudes toward refugees, display a strong sense of national pride in Turkish identity, and voice criticism of government policies they perceive as anti-secular and anti-Turkish. A significant segment of youth also supported far-right actors in the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections. This lecture examines what is new about rising nation-alism among youth and explores the social and political dynamics that shape contemporary nationalistic values and practices. Drawing on an extensive field study conducted in 2024 in five cities, the analysis is based on in-depth interviews and focus group discus-sions with young people. The findings point to three interconnected features of this emerging youth nation-alism: anti-immigrant sentiments, strong commitments to secularism, and a critical stance toward democratic erosion in Turkey. The lecture argues that the coexist-ence of exclusionary nationalist attitudes with de-mands for secularism and democracy produces a dis-tinctive configuration of youth nationalism. This ten-sion differentiates the Turkish case from dominant patterns of far-right mobilisation observed elsewhere and offers a comparative perspective relevant to broader debates on contemporary right-wing tenden-cies and democratic resilience.
Biographical Notes
Dr. Begüm Uzun Taşkın is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Sci-ence and International Relations at MEF University in Istanbul. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on youth political participation, state–society relations, regime transformations, and Turkish politics. Her most recent works have been published in South European Society and Politics, Third World Quarterly, and the De Gruyter Handbook of Youth Activism. She is also the co-author of Yeni Genç Türkler: Yeni Nesil Milliyetçilik (New Young Turks: New Generation Nationalism). Begüm Uzun Taşkın is one of the coordinators of the Istanbul Youth Research Centre, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to critical and justice-oriented research on youth.
Admission
Admission only after prior registration and subject to organiser approval!
The organisers reserve the right to restrict participation to registered individuals. Persons who are members of far-right extremist parties or organisations, who can be identified as part of the far-right extremist scene, or who have previously made racist, nationalist, antisemitic, or otherwise dehumanising statements are excluded from the event.
Participation is free of charge. Registration is required for each event individually . Please register at least 3 days before the events you are interested in by emailing: projekt-retra@oth-regensburg.de.
After organiser approval, you will receive confirmation email as well as the video conference link shortly before the event.
Content Note
This lecture series addresses topics such as racism, political violence, antisemitism, and far-right extremism. Some content may be distressing.
