Sabine Volk
Why is antifeminism particularly strong in the east of Germany? This article contributes to tackling this puzzle by studying antifeminism and far-right politics across different levels of the federal polity. Specifically, the paper analyses the politics of gender by the country’s key antifeminist party player, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). To shed light on the specificities of the eastern German AfD, the paper compares the official political positioning of two eastern German AfD groups, AfD Saxony and AfD Thuringia, with the federal party. Methodologically, the research draws from a qualitative manifesto analysis of ten official documents (2014–2025). The systematic comparison of the manifestos across cases and time reveals that the party’s ideological profile on gender issues is highly homogeneous across groups. The AfD’s antifeminism has been overall consistent since 2014, while the party strategically focuses on radicalising anti-gender and anti-trans positions in recent years. The key difference between eastern German AfD groups and the federal party concerns issue salience, with eastern groups prioritising gender issues over ‘hard’ issues in their manifestos. The findings show that eastern German AfD groups are not ‘more’ antifeminist than the federal party, and underscores the need for further research into the puzzle.