Source: Deutsche Welle
Speaking to Deutsche Welle’s Quadriga, Judy Dempsey argued that the Pegida movement of “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West” has awoken German society.“The public space is changing in Germany,” warned Judy Dempsey. “Germany is not unique. . . . There is the fear of the other, the fear of the foreigner. . . . This is a European phenomenon.” In fact, Germany is only the latest country in Europe to tap into the surrounding atmosphere of Islamophobia.
As for the underlying causes of this surge, Dempsey explained that one of the problems is that “with the bureaucratization of politics and globalization, the feeling of identity between politicians and citizens is widening.” The mainstream political parties “haven’t adapted to the postmodernization of Europe, to globalization, and to [the need to] adapt policies and politics to society and its citizens.” The question of alienation between the state, political parties, and society is one of Europe’s biggest problems today.