Strategies for Combating and Preventing Right-Wing Extremism in the Federal Republic of Germany

The purpose of the article is to analyse strategies for combating and preventing right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic of Germany and to find an adequate model for its prevention in Germany as well as in other countries. After defining right-wing extremism, and of the utmost importance in defining it is the ideology of inequality closely connected to xenophobia, racism and revisionism, and after its analysis on several levels (organised right-wing party extremism, numerous organisations, population attitudes, various forms of action, sub-cultural extremism of rightist youth groups), the authors discuss to what extent right-wing extremism currently represents a threat to German democracy. Following an analysis of what causes the development of right-wing extremism (psychological, sociological, politological and integrative factors) and also of the constitutional and criminal-law measures for preventing right-wing extremism, the paper discusses the in-school and out-of-school prevention of rightist extremism of youth in Germany. Furthermore, the authors conclude that right-wing extremism does not, in spite of its evident growth, represent a serious threat to the democratic constitutional state, the reason for which can be found in various comprehensive measures of prevention which are being implemented in Germany, and which can serve as a model for the prevention of right-wing extremism in other democratic countries.