The Long-Term Effects of Oppression: Prussia, Political Catholicism, and the Alternative für Deutschland

Contemporary political behavior is often affected by historical legacies, but the specific mechanisms through which these legacies are transmitted are difficult to pin down. This paper argues that historical political conflicts can affect political behavior over several generations when they trigger...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American political science review Vol. 116; no. 2; pp. 595 - 614
Main Author HAFFERT, LUKAS
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.05.2022
Subjects
19th century
Attitudes
Authoritarianism
Catholicism
Catholics
Civil society
Context Effect
Election results
Elections
Evidence
Local elections
Long term
Mobilization
Oppression
Persistence
Political Attitudes
Political behavior
Political science
Radicalism
Regions
Social Environment
Socialization
Voting
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Summary:Contemporary political behavior is often affected by historical legacies, but the specific mechanisms through which these legacies are transmitted are difficult to pin down. This paper argues that historical political conflicts can affect political behavior over several generations when they trigger an enduring organizational mobilization. It studies how the oppression of German Catholics in the nineteenth century led to a regionally differentiated mobilization of political Catholicism that still affects political support for the radical right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) today. Using newly collected data on historical oppression events, it shows that Catholic regions where oppression was intense saw greater mobilization of Catholic lay organizations than Catholic regions where oppression was milder and show lower support for the AfD today. The paper thus contributes to the literature on the historical determinants of political behavior as well as to the question of which regional context effects strengthen or weaken the radical right.
ISSN:0003-0554
1537-5943
DOI:10.1017/S0003055421001040