Research field: Extremism Research

The study of political extremism in all its variants has for a long time been a core topic at HAIT. As part of the restructuring of the research fields, empirical studies in comparative autocracy research will be integrated into this area going forward. This includes studies of the evolution of extremist ideologies, of the conditions for success of right-wing extremist parties and of politically motivated violence. In recent times, the range of interdisciplinary cooperative projects widened to include investigations into the relation of migration, social integration and political-cultural processes of polarisation. The view on the victimhood of vulnerable groups in non-democratic regimes (like women, children, those perceived as "foreign") opens up the intersectional perspective on extremism and autocracy. A new research topic deals with civil society actors of democracy protection in modern constitutional states in an internationally comparative perspective. Without detriment to their scientific independence, some of the researchers active in this field offer counseling to civil society groups and government agencies in questions of handling extremist threats and politically motivated violence.

Researchers: Prof. Dr. Uwe Backes, Dr. Manuela Beyer, PD Dr. Steffen Kailitz, Maximilian Kreter, Zadekia Krondorfer, Dr. Manès Weisskircher, Dr. Jakub Wondreys