ARGUMENT: Domestic extremsim Fighting Domestic Extremism: Lessons from Germany

Published 15 March 2021

As the U.S. Capitol insurrection, the prevalence of the QAnon conspiracy, and widely believed claims of election fraud indicate, potentially tens of millions of Americans are outside the consensus on the most fundamental U.S. democratic values: faith in official election results and the peaceful transfer of power. Daniel Koehler writes that, as a German, he is “frightfully reminded” of the Weimar Republic, which resulted in the end of Germany’s first democracy and the rise of domestic extremism from within. “Modern Germany is built on the legacy of the failure of its first democratic experiment and the unspeakable global suffering and destruction that followed,” he writes. The success of German democracy today “offers lessons for the United States as well as other countries seeking to counter extreme ideologies.”

As the U.S. Capitol insurrection, the prevalence of the QAnon conspiracy, and widely believed claims of election fraud indicate, potentially tens of millions of Americans are outside the consensus on the most fundamental U.S. democratic values: faith in official election results and the peaceful transfer of power. Daniel Koehler writes in Lawfare that, as a German, he is “frightfully reminded” of the Weimar Republic, which resulted in the end of Germany’s first democracy and the rise of domestic extremism from within.

Koehler is the founding director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies and a research fellow at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at the Center for University Excellence of the American University in Washington, D.C.

He writes:

Modern Germany is built on the legacy of the failure of its first democratic experiment and the unspeakable global suffering and destruction that followed. This legacy has been deeply ingrained in post-World War II Germany’s philosophy of “militant democracy”—the idea that toxic and poisonous ideologies can spread within a population to sow distrust and anger against the political order and its most fundamental values. The success of German democracy today indicates Germany’s ability to overcome its previous failure and offers lessons for the United States as well as other countries seeking to counter extreme ideologies.

Stopping and reversing the spread of toxic extremist ideologies is a herculean task. Preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) programs have been developed to tackle this challenge. One lesson is central: Reestablishing positive and trust-based social relationships among communities across ideological divides to experience the failure of black-and-white, us-versus-them extremist ideologies is of the utmost importance. To succeed in this, P/CVE programs and strategies need a solid structural base and support from national leadership.

Koehler notes that tThe United States has already looked to Germany for help. One of the first attempts to introduce “deradicalization” (targeted toward dismantling extremism among ideologies’ most committed adherents to mitigate future threats of terrorism) began in 2016 at the federal court in Minneapolis, led by a group of determined federal judges and probation officers convinced that it is simply impossible to incarcerate a way out of extremism. At the time, German expertise was sought to learn from and adapt. Germany has many more lessons to offer when it comes to fighting the extreme right.

Today, Germany is one of several countries championing P/CVE. Koehler writes that the German government decided on an 89-point action plan to counter racism and domestic extremism, including a 1 billion euro funding scheme for various measures over the coming years. This plan holds many lessons for the United States. Here are some of the most important.

·  First, any P/CVE scheme needs a diversified funding basis.

·  Second, the Biden administration must clean house in the military and federal law enforcement agencies to show determination, commitment, and transparency in the fight against decades-long infiltration attempts by domestic extremists.

·  Third, quality standards and professionalization are absolutely key in P/CVE. Without oversight, these programs could waste valuable resources or even risk worsening problems that contribute to domestic extremism. 

·  Fourth, the United States must recognize that there is no single ideal P/CVE program. In fact, there are a multitude of different types of P/CVE programs, each focused on different goals and target groups, and drawing on different actors to carry them out.

Koehler concludes:

Breathing life back into a fledgling P/CVE landscape that the Trump administration has left in ruins will require large investment and commitment from the Biden administration, Congress, academia and nongovernmental entrepreneurs. The very first step must be to clearly signal that the new administration will confront the threat of domestic extremism.