Few people outside of Germany pay attention to that country’s regional politics. But we should take notice. The Basic Law, which established the Federal Republic in 1949, assumes that power is exercised by the 16 individual German states (Länder) except where the federal government is explicitly empowered.

State governments, then, are solely responsible for most policing, education, housing, prisons and the media; they cooperate with the federal government on health, welfare and taxation.

This means that last weekend’s elections to the Landtags (regional assemblies) in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony are important, affecting around 6.1 million people. In both, the far-right, anti-immigration AfD (Alternative for Germany) party won around one-third of the vote. AfD is now comfortably the largest party in the Landtag of Thuringia, and in second place by a single seat in the Landtag of Saxony.

The AfD’s strong performance was made sharper by the disastrous results for the three parties that form the coalition government in Berlin, the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Free Democrats. The Greens won no seats in Thuringia, and the Free Democrats are absent from both Landtags.

Germany is particularly sensitive to the strength of its far right. Its modern democratic structures were developed in the long shadow of Nazism, and the mantra of “never again” has hung over German politics for 75 years. Now, in Thuringia, the unthinkable for many Germans has happened: a far-right party has topped the poll in a state election.

The June elections to the European Parliament saw anti-immigrant populist parties show well across the continent. In Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece,........

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