Episode 87: German Political Turbulence and the Rise of the Alternative for Germany
Jeff Rathke
President of AGI
Jeffrey Rathke is the President of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
Prior to joining AICGS, Jeff was a senior fellow and deputy director of the Europe Program at CSIS, where his work focused on transatlantic relations and U.S. security and defense policy. Jeff joined CSIS in 2015 from the State Department, after a 24-year career as a Foreign Service Officer, dedicated primarily to U.S. relations with Europe. He was director of the State Department Press Office from 2014 to 2015, briefing the State Department press corps and managing the Department's engagement with U.S. print and electronic media. Jeff led the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that, he was deputy chief of staff to the NATO Secretary General in Brussels. He also served in Berlin as minister-counselor for political affairs (2006–2009), his second tour of duty in Germany. His Washington assignments have included deputy director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs and duty officer in the White House Situation Room and State Department Operations Center.
Mr. Rathke was a Weinberg Fellow at Princeton University (2003–2004), winning the Master’s in Public Policy Prize. He also served at U.S. Embassies in Dublin, Moscow, and Riga, which he helped open after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mr. Rathke has been awarded national honors by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as several State Department awards. He holds an M.P.P. degree from Princeton University and B.A. and B.S. degrees from Cornell University. He speaks German, Russian, and Latvian.
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Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger is non-Resident Senior Fellow at AICGS.
Squabbles within Germany’s coalition parties and unpopular policy decisions—including a controversial home heating bill spearheaded by Green Party Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck—have dragged the approval rating of the traffic light coalition down as low as 20 percent this summer. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is reaping the rewards of Germans’ discontent, polling at 20 percent nationwide and as high as 30 percent in some states. AGI Non-Resident Senior Fellow Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger joins The Zeitgeist to discuss what current developments in German politics could mean for the upcoming state elections and next year’s European elections, how to understand the rise of the AfD in the polls, and what the political turbulence could mean for the future of transatlantic relations.
Host
Jeff Rathke, President, AGI
Guest
Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, AGI Non-Resident Senior Fellow
