„Keinen Millimeter nach rechts” – Herbert Grönemeyer and Germany’s Free Democratic Basic Order

Abstract

The article analyses the socio-political motifs in the song lyrics of the German popular musician Herbert Grönemeyer from a political science perspective. As a qualitative content analysis of his song lyrics shows, Grönemeyer pictures the fundamental pillars of Germany’s free democratic order – human dignity, the democracy principle and the rule of law – as normative ideals worthy of protection, while he explicitly names opposing actors and tendencies as dangers. The overall picture shows that Herbert Grönemeyer not only expresses this political stance in his song lyrics, but also continuously intervenes in civil society as a public intellectual in the sense of Antonio Gramsci. In this way, he actively participates in the struggle for public opinion and ultimately helps to secure the hegemony of the free democratic basic order.