Loren Balhorn

Berlin, Germany

Lead Editor at Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

Editor-in-Chief at Jacobin

Translator and Editor at Freelance

Editor-in-chief and reluctant podcaster @jacobinmag_de (Opinions obviously my own)

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Articles

Saskia Esken Failed to Change Germany’s Social Democrats

1 week ago | jacobin.com | Loren Balhorn

After being passed over for a ministerial post in Germany’s new grand-coalition government, it was clear that Saskia Esken’s time as a leading face of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was approaching its end. Indeed, even her own state chapter declined to renominate her for the party executive several weeks before.
Victory Day Is About Celebrating Liberation From Fascism

1 month ago | jacobin.com | Loren Balhorn

“No inviting Russian and Belarusian representatives to commemorations” — thus reads a nonbinding directive issued to German government officials by the Foreign Office, with regard to the eightieth anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Should the situation escalate, the circular continues, states and municipalities should consider calling the police to have Russian and Belarusian diplomats removed from the premises.
Is There an Alternative in Germany?

Mar 7, 2025 | znetwork.org | Loren Balhorn |William Shoki

Germany’s recent elections marked a turning point in the country’s political landscape. While the center-right CDU has reclaimed power, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has achieved its strongest result yet, consolidating its influence, particularly in former East Germany. The left, long in decline, has shown signs of revival, but faces an uphill battle in a political landscape increasingly defined by economic stagnation, right-wing populism, and geopolitical uncertainty.
Loren Balhorn, Leaning Right — Sidecar

Mar 7, 2025 | newleftreview.org | Loren Balhorn

With a couple of weeks of hindsight, the biggest surprise in the German federal elections was that the political mainstream ended up doing as well as it did. Granted, the traditional parties of the centre-right and -left faced historically low returns, with the Social Democrats (SPD) scraping together some 16.4%, their lowest result since 1887, and their Christian Democratic (CDU) counterparts 28.5% – not quite as bad as last time around, but still their second-worst result in history.
Is there an alternative in Germany?

Mar 6, 2025 | africasacountry.com | Loren Balhorn |William Shoki |Tom Menger |Caitlin L Chandler

WS The February 23 election produced some interesting results. The CDU has returned to power, while the far-right AfD secured its best-ever election result. How should we interpret this shift? Is it part of a broader rightward turn in European politics, or are domestic factors driving this change? LB Well, there’s definitely a European context to this shift. That much is obvious.
The Improbable Resurgence of Die Linke

Feb 10, 2025 | znetwork.org | Loren Balhorn

When former Die Linke leader Sahra Wagenknecht and her supporters quit to form their own party in October 2023, both sides of the split seemed confident that they would be the main beneficiaries. Her Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) hoped that, finally freed of their former comrades’ “lifestyle leftism,” they could reach out to the broad middle of society and win back disillusioned voters who had drifted to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The Improbable Resurgence of Die Linke

Feb 10, 2025 | jacobin.com | Loren Balhorn

When former Die Linke leader Sahra Wagenknecht and her supporters quit to form their own party in October 2023, both sides of the split seemed confident that they would be the main beneficiaries. Her Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) hoped that, finally freed of their former comrades’ “lifestyle leftism,” they could reach out to the broad middle of society and win back disillusioned voters who had drifted to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The Improbable Resurgence of Die Linke

Feb 10, 2025 | msn.com | Loren Balhorn

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Germany’s Social Democrats Failed Miserably

Dec 3, 2024 | jacobin.com | Loren Balhorn

One of the sayings most often (falsely) attributed to Vladimir Lenin holds that “there are decades where nothing happens, and weeks when decades happen.” Outgoing German federal chancellor Olaf Scholz, who doubtless read the Russian revolutionary when he was a leading face of the Marxist-inclined youth wing of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), may very well have thought of these lines earlier this month.
Israel is hurtling into the political abyss

Nov 29, 2024 | links.org.au | Aida Touma-Sliman |Loren Balhorn

Since 7 October 2023, the lives not only of Israelis and Palestinians, but indeed of everyone living in the region have been radically transformed for the worst. The brutal war in Gaza, now expanding into Lebanon, threatens to mutate into a forever war, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government stake their political survival on defeating Israel’s mortal enemies and annexing as much Palestinian territory as they can.