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    <title>EconStor Collection:</title>
    <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/274671</link>
    <description />
    <pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:22:11 GMT</pubDate>
    <dc:date>2026-04-28T10:22:11Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Brandmauer - Still alive! Empirical findings on support for the AfD by established parties in Eastern Germany (2019-2024)</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309435</link>
      <description>Title: Brandmauer - Still alive! Empirical findings on support for the AfD by established parties in Eastern Germany (2019-2024)
Authors: Schroeder, Wolfgang; Ziblatt, Daniel; Bochert, Florian
Abstract: For years, federal politicians from all established parties have categorically ruled out any cooperation with the Alternative for Germany (AfD), erecting a so-called "firewall" ("Brandmauer") against the party. Nevertheless, reports increasingly document instances where this firewall is eroding, with established parties cooperating with the AfD at the municipal level. Against this backdrop, our study analyzes the meetings of municipal councils at the district level in all eastern German states from mid-2019 to mid-2024. The analysis of 2,452 meetings, during which the AfD submitted a total of 2,348 proposals, reveals that content-related cooperation occurred in 484 cases. This corresponds to approximately 20.6% of the AfD's proposals. In slightly more than half of these cases (244), at least five non-AfD representatives supported an AfD proposal or candidate. This represents roughly 10.2% of all proposals. Significant regional variations are evident, but the areas with the strongest AfD presence are not necessarily those with the highest levels of cooperation. Content-wise, the AfD secures cooperation from established parties less often on controversial national topics, such as asylum or security, and more frequently on infrastructure-related tasks within the immediate jurisdiction of the respective councils, such as transportation issues. Overall, our study demonstrates that the contentious firewall, often assumed to have completely collapsed at the municipal level, has indeed developed cracks over the past five years but remains considerably more robust than widely believed. At the end of this paper, we discuss four conceivable strategic options for the future handling of the firewall.</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309435</guid>
      <dc:date>2025-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Democracy in decline: The economic implications of democratic collapse</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/316436</link>
      <description>Title: Democracy in decline: The economic implications of democratic collapse
Authors: Boese-Schlosser, Vanessa; Eberhardt, Markus
Abstract: Previous research has established a link between democratic governance and sustainable economic growth. Yet, over the past decade, we have witnessed a global decline of democratic institutions across a wide range of political contexts. How has this erosion of democracy affected countries' economic trajectories over the 1999-2023 period? This paper investigates the economic consequences of democratic breakdowns, focusing on whether - and how - losing democracy comes with an economic cost. Using a heterogeneous difference-in-differences estimator and drawing on the hierarchical structure of the Varieties of Democracy dataset, we examine both high-level democracy definitions and their institutional building blocks. Our analysis proceeds in three steps. First, we estimate the average treatment effect of regime collapse and find robust evidence of an autocratic loss: on average, countries that transition from democracy to autocracy experience a decline in income per capita of around 1.5%, with losses reaching 4-6% two decades after collapse. This effect is driven more strongly by the breakdown of electoral democracy than liberal democracy. Second, we disaggregate democracy into its low-level institutional components to identify the source of this loss. We find that the negative economic effects are primarily driven by the erosion of free and fair elections-while other components, such as freedom of expression or judicial constraints on the executive, play a much smaller role. Third, we explore transmission channels that explain how democratic collapse translates into economic decline. We find suggestive evidence that cuts to investment in social support and public goods - such as education - are among the key mechanisms through which autocratic loss materializes, with some effects emerging more immediately and others likely to deepen over time. Our findings underscore the long-term risks posed by democratic erosion and highlight the central role of electoral integrity in safeguarding economic development.</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/316436</guid>
      <dc:date>2025-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Is the Brandmauer ("firewall") breaking from below? Party cooperation with the "Alternative for Germany (AfD)" in all German local government councils (2019-2024)</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315200</link>
      <description>Title: Is the Brandmauer ("firewall") breaking from below? Party cooperation with the "Alternative for Germany (AfD)" in all German local government councils (2019-2024)
Authors: Schroeder, Wolfgang; Ziblatt, Daniel; Bochert, Florian
Abstract: January 2025, for the first time in the postwar history of Germany's national parliament, a mainstream political party (the Christian Democratic Union) relied on the support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass a motion. This prompted intense public debate as many Germans worried that this cooperation was a harbinger of possibly still more cooperation to come. Against this backdrop, our study examines the state of the so-called "firewall" - the self-commitment of established parties to not cooperate with the AfD - in Germany at the district level. To do so, we analyzed more than 11,000 meetings of councils at the district level across all federal states from mid-2019 to mid-2024. Our analysis shows that in this period no cooperation with the AfD took place in approximately 81.2% of cases where cooperation was possible. While regional differences across Germany can be observed, on average there was no significant difference in levels of cooperation between eastern and western German districts. Even in western German districts, the firewall has not strictly been upheld everywhere. However, larger differences do become apparent when comparing rural and urban districts. Eastern German rural districts, in particular, are at the forefront of cooperation with the AfD, whereas in western German districts, there is no significant urban-rural divide. From a party-political perspective, smaller parties are the most frequent collaborators with the AfD, followed by the FDP and CDU. While the firewall is beginning to crack, as of fall 2024, it had not yet completely collapsed at the district level.</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315200</guid>
      <dc:date>2025-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Hält die Brandmauer? Eine gesamtdeutsche Analyse: Wer unterstützt die AfD in den deutschen Kreistagen (2019-2024)</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315201</link>
      <description>Title: Hält die Brandmauer? Eine gesamtdeutsche Analyse: Wer unterstützt die AfD in den deutschen Kreistagen (2019-2024)
Authors: Schroeder, Wolfgang; Ziblatt, Daniel; Bochert, Florian
Abstract: Nachdem im Deutschen Bundestag Ende Januar 2025 erstmals eine politische Mehrheit mit den Stimmen der AfD zustande kam, sind viele Deutsche besorgt, dass es bald weitergehende Kooperation mit der AfD geben könnte. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht unsere Studie den Stand der Brandmauer in Deutschland auf kommunaler Ebene. Dafür analysieren wir mehr als 11.000 Sitzungen der kommunalen Volksvertretungen auf Kreisebene in allen Bundesländern von Mitte 2019 bis Mitte 2024. Unsere Auswertung zeigt, dass in etwa 81,2% der Fälle keine Kooperation mit der AfD stattfindet. Dabei lassen sich zwar regionale Unterschiede feststellen, es besteht allerdings kein großer Unterschied zwischen ost- und westdeutschen Kreisen. Auch in westdeutschen Kreisen wird die Brandmauer nicht strikt und überall eingehalten. Erst beim Vergleich von Landkreisen und kreisfreien Städten werden größere Unterschiede deutlich. Vor allem ostdeutsche Landkreise sind Vorreiter bei der Kooperation mit der AfD, während es in westdeutschen Kreisen keine signifikante Stadt-Land Differenz gibt. Parteipolitisch sind es gerade kleinere Parteien, die besonders häufig mit der AfD kooperieren, gefolgt von FDP und CDU. Obwohl die Brandmauer also zu bröckeln beginnt, ist sie entgegen vielfacher Darstellung auf kommunaler Ebene noch lange nicht vollständig eingerissen.</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315201</guid>
      <dc:date>2025-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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