Armin Pfahl-Traughber (born 1963) is a German political scientist, sociologist and government official. He is professor of political science at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences in Germany and is a former director of the office for
far-right extremism
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
in the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...
. He is an expert on
far-right
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
and
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
political extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...
,
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
,
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and the
history of ideas
Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...
. He is editor of the ''Jahrbuch für Extremismus- und Terrorismusforschung'' (Yearbook of Extremism and Terrorism Research).
Career
He studied political science and sociology at the
University of Duisburg The old University of Duisburg was a university in Duisburg, Germany.
History
Its origins date back to the 1555 decision to create a university for the unified duchies at the Lower Rhine that were later to be merged into Prussia. After the foundati ...
and the
University of Marburg
The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...
; he received a scholarship from the
Friedrich Naumann Foundation
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom ('' German: Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit e.V.; Abbreviation: FNF'') is a German foundation for liberal politics, related to the Free Democratic Party and funded by the Federal Min ...
and earned his PhD in 1992 with a dissertation on antisemitic and antimasonic conspiracy theories in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany; his doctoral advisor was
Julius H. Schoeps. He then taught at the University of Marburg.
From 1994 to 2004 he was a research fellow and director in the office for
far-right extremism
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
in the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...
. He also taught at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...
from 1998 to 2004, and was appointed as professor of political science at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences in 2004. He has also taught at the
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
since 2007, and at the Academy of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Vortrag u. Gespräch mit Armin Pfahl-Traughber
, accessdate 2015-04-08
Selected works
*''Konservative Revolution und Neue Rechte: Rechtsextremistische Intellektuelle gegen den demokratischen Verfassungsstaat'', Leske & Budrich, Opladen 1998,
*''Linksextremismus in Deutschland: Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme''. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, .
*''Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland: Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme''. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2019, .
*''Die AfD und der Rechtsextremismus: Eine Analyse aus politikwissenschaftlicher Perspektive''. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2019, .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfahltraughber, Armin
1963 births
German political scientists
German sociologists
21st-century German civil servants
University of Duisburg-Essen alumni
University of Marburg alumni
Academic staff of the University of Bonn
Living people