Steffen Kailitz (born 18 May 1969) is a German

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and a senior research fellow at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism. He specializes in comparative studies of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

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 sha ...

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

, electoral systems and studies of

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. He has also testified as an expert witness before the

Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...

, the Parliament of Bavaria and other government authorities. Kailitz earned a PhD in political science at

Chemnitz University of Technology Chemnitz University of Technology () is a public university in Chemnitz, Germany. With around 8,300 students, it is the third largest university in Saxony. It was founded in 1836 as ''Königliche Gewerbschule'' (Royal Mercantile College) and ...

in 1999; his doctoral advisor was

Eckhard Jesse Eckhard Jesse (born 16 July 1948) is a German political scientist. Born in Wurzen, Saxony, he held the chair for "political systems and political institutions" at the Technical University of Chemnitz from 1993 to 2014. Jesse is one of the best ...

. He has worked as a researcher at Chemnitz University of Technology since 1998 and earned his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 2005. Following his critical comments regarding the far-right NPD party, the party initiated legal proceedings against him that were eventually dismissed by the court.

Bibliography

* ''Die politische Deutungskultur im Spiegel des „Historikerstreits“. What's right? What's left?''. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001, (TU Chemnitz 1999). * ''Aktuelle Entwicklungen im deutschen Rechtsextremismus'' (= ''Zukunftsforum Politik''. No. 17).

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ('' German: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's head ...

, Sankt Augustin 2000. * ''Politischer Extremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Eine Einführung''. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, . * ''Rechtsextremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Auf dem Weg zur "Volksfront"?'' (= ''Zukunftsforum Politik''. No. 65). Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Sankt Augustin 2005, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kailitz, Steffen German political scientists 1969 births Living people