To think right is great, but to think freely is greater : The Querdenken movement and diagonalism as an ideology

Diagonalist movements challenge established ways of classifying political movements, as they gather supporters from vastly different ideological backgrounds. This thesis examines whether diagonalism, through a case study of the German Querdenken movement, can be understood as a distinct political ideology. Using a morphological analysis of official Querdenken texts, the study reconstructs the movement’s conceptual structure and compares it with established ideological frameworks. Querdenken displays a coherent ideological morphology, with a tightly interlinked core of freedom, autonomy, and truth. The movement lacks a positive political programme, instead maintaining internal cohesion through a shared commitment to opposing perceived violations of individual freedom, autonomy, and truth, rather than through agreement on positive policy goals. While this does not fulfill the criteria for a self-standing ideology, the conceptual patterns show resemblance to individualist anarchism or libertarian thought and reveal structural proximity to far-right conspiracist narratives. Diagonalism cannot be classified as a distinct ideology, but Querdenken illustrates ideological thinking oriented around libertarian principles, negation, and conspiracist evaluation.