Thomas Meyer is a German political scientist and professor emeritus at Dortmund university.

Life

Thomas Meyer studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, political science, and

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...

at the University of Frankfurt. In 1973, he received a doctoral degree at Frankfurt for a dissertation about the role of the proletarian in

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

's theory of liberation. He received the

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 ...

from the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

in 1977. In later years, Meyer has studied the role of the media in modern politics and has become a noted critic of the way the media influences the style and content of political debates. His term "media democracy" highlights the decisive role of media in political processes. He is a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

and is the vice-chairman of the party's committee on fundamental principles. He has also written several books on the history and theory of

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte (NGFH)

Meyer is editor of the journal Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte (NGFH) (New Society/Frankfurt Issues).

EU work

Meyer was a member of the European Commission's Social Sciences and Humanities Advisory Group and is an ''individual expert'' in the EU-NESCA Project.

Recent publications

* ''The Theory of Social Democracy'' (with Lewis Hinchman) - Cambridge 2007 - Sandbrook, R (2008) Review of Thomas Meyer, with Lewis Hinchman, The Theory of Social Democracy, Perspectives on Politics, 6, no. 4, 848 * ''Was ist Politik?'' - Wiesbaden, 2006 - * ''Theorie der sozialen Demokratie'' (with Lew Hinchman and Nicole Breyer) - Wiesbaden, 2005 - * ''Die Identität Europas. Der EU eine Seele?'' - Frankfurt am Main, 2004 - * ''Identitätspolitik. Vom Missbrauch kultureller Unterschiede'' - Frankfurt am Main, 2002 - * ''Mediokratie: die Kolonisierung der Politik durch die Medien'' - Frankfurt am Main, 2001 - * ''Die Inszenierung des Politischen: zur Theatralität von Mediendiskursen'' (with Rüdiger Ontrup and Christian Schicha) - Opladen, 2000 - * ''Politik als Theater : die neue Macht der Darstellungskunst'' (with Martina Kampmann) - Berlin, 1998 -

References

External links

What others can't do
Only the state can guarantee fundamental rights – and it delegates the task at our peril. - op-ed in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

2008 1943 births Living people German political scientists Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Free University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Technical University of Dortmund Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians {{polisci-bio-stub