Ashoka Fellow since 2022   |   Germany

Maximilian Oehl

Brand New Bundestag
Despite being a well-developed democracy, Germany still struggles to include everyone in politics and set and maintain a long-term political agenda for the most critical societal issues. Maximilian…
Read more
This description of Maximilian Oehl's work was prepared when Maximilian Oehl was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2022.

Introduction

Despite being a well-developed democracy, Germany still struggles to include everyone in politics and set and maintain a long-term political agenda for the most critical societal issues. Maximilian aims to shake the whole system from the bottom up by training and involving young people and diverseRead more

The New Idea

Maximilian Oehl is anchoring a significant and timely culture shift in Germany’s multi-party political system that breaks down current ways of hierarchical, closed, and top-down thinking in formal political institutions and builds trust across politicians, parliament, political agendas, andRead more

The Problem

European voters are increasingly disenchanted with mainstream political parties, which they see as ineffective, elitist, and out of touch. There have been reductions in the number of people who strongly identify with a particular party or along a left-right axis, with a trend for citizens to feelRead more

The Strategy

Brand New Bundestag acts as a bridge between social movements and electoral politics. The overarching goal is to build a coordinated political front of progressive forces from different actors and social groups, intertwine grassroots activism and formal electoral politics, and redesign politicalRead more

The Person

Being the son of a single mother in Germany and finding the chance to spend a year in Ghana when he was 18, Max became aware of social injustices at an early age. The issues of his growing up years were so different from the Ghanaians, yet the root causes seem similar. The rules of the game wereRead more