“They absolutely do not want to live like us – and we do not want to live like them” Migration and Migrants in the parliamentary discourse of far-right actors in Germany: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Sammanfattning

This research examines how migrants and migration are portrayed and instrumentalized by the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in political discourse in the German federal parliament, focusing on parliamentary debates as an example of political discourse. The research analyzes which dominant metaphors, discursive strategies, and frames are used in the AfD’s political discourse about migration and migrants, and how German national identity is constructed in relation to migration and migrants. The research analyzes 78 speeches delivered by the AfD party leaders, the domestic policy spokesperson, and the parliamentary secretary in the German federal parliament one year prior to the 2021 and 2025 elections using critical discourse analysis. The study shows that migrants and migration are consistently portrayed as a homogenous group in the parliamentary discourse of the AfD. Migrants are portrayed as threat to German society, security, and the welfare system. They are represented as culturally incompatible, unwilling to integrate, and as abusing the state resources. The AfD instrumentalizes migration discourse to generate fear, justify restrictive policies, and present itself as the protector of the German population, while portraying the government as responsible for uncontrolled migration. These representations are reinforced through crisis and threat frames, metaphors of natural disaster, and discursive strategies like “us versus them” constructions, emotionalized narratives, and creating knowledge through selective use of statistics and facts. The study shows that German national identity is constructed in opposition to migrants, emphasizing cultural cohesion, democratic values, and belonging based on integration, while migrants are portrayed as a threat to this national order.