When crises escalate, the fear of radicalization is quickly invoked in Germany. The fact that German society is divided and polarized is considered a fact and a danger to democracy. The population itself is also overwhelmingly convinced that society is divided on many issues; only 17 percent believe that there is broad consensus on many issues.
The question is not only whether this diagnosis is correct, but also whether there is potential for radicalization. Controversies that are also visibly and sometimes harshly fought are part of democracy – attempts to suppress controversies and opinions are part of dictatorships. Accordingly, different perspectives, values and goals per se are anything but worrying. However, as the development of American society shows, they can also become a danger in a democracy if the positions are irreconcilably opposed and enemy images arise from different world views and values. Once this process is well advanced, it is difficult to reverse. Years before Trump was elected, Henry Kissinger warned in a lecture in Germany that he was deeply concerned about the extreme polarization in the United States.
Controversial issues Corona, immigration, Ukraine
Germany is far removed from the entrenched polarization of the United States. However, many have the impression that not only is society divided on many issues, but that opinions are also irreconcilably opposed. 49 percent are convinced, in East Germany 57 percent. At the same time, East Germans have even less impression than West Germans of living in a tolerant society: 26 percent of West Germans and 9 percent of East Germans see society that way.
The population primarily sees the handling of the corona pandemic, immigration and immigration policy and the question of whether and how Germany should support Ukraine as controversial issues. But citizens differentiate between controversial issues and issues on which positions are irreconcilably opposed.
According to the majority, the German reaction to the Ukraine war is a contentious issue; only 29 percent felt the competing viewpoints to be irreconcilable. Two-thirds perceive immigration policy as a controversial topic; 43 percent consider the positions to be so irreconcilable that discussions make no sense. Interestingly, it wasn’t until after 2015 that the notion that political positions separate people started to spread. Before 2015 only a minority assigned this importance to political attitudes, in 2016 it was 60 percent. Since then, this assessment has fluctuated within a narrow corridor of between 52 and 60 percent; This means that the political position and world view, along with social class, is considered to be the influencing factor that divides society the most.
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