University of Tübingen establishes research center for right-wing extremism
Researchers want to analyze the attitudes, living environments and communication of right-wing extremists – Close cooperation with the documentation center for right-wing extremism and other partners
The University of Tübingen will set up a research center on right-wing extremism on behalf of the state of Baden-Württemberg. “Our goal is to strengthen social and state structures against right-wing extremist ideologies and practices with the help of research,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Professor Ansgar Thiel, on Tuesday in Tübingen. “We want to research the emergence and spread of right-wing extremist attitudes and practices, as well as identify the current threat potential for the open society.”
The research center will include three professorships funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg, including the nation’s first professorship for right-wing extremism research in the field of political science. In addition, the university funds a junior professorship to research anti-Semitism and group-focused enmity. There are also other positions for scientific and supportive tasks. The state finances the research center with a total of 1.2 million euros per year. In addition, the new facility is to raise third-party funds for individual research projects.
The research center will work closely with the Karlsruhe documentation center for right-wing extremism, which the Baden-Württemberg state government decided to set up in 2020. Other cooperation partners are the Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, the administrative colleges in Kehl and Ludwigsburg, the Baden-Württemberg Police College, the Gäu-Neckar-Alb Memorials Network and the State Working Group on Open Youth Education. The establishment of the research center is scheduled to begin in 2023.
One focus of the research will be the analysis of right-wing extremist communication on a wide variety of digital platforms and in social media. Among other things, it will be examined how right-wing extremist discourses, media and strategies damage the democratic culture of debate. “Social media play a central role in the dissemination of right-wing extremist ideas and communication between right-wing extremists,” said Professor Tanja Thomas, Chair of Transformations in Media Culture at the University of Tübingen.
The professors to be appointed for the research center should deal with right-wing extremism from a political science, media science and educational science perspective, as Thiel explained: “The idea is to take into account all aspects of research into right-wing extremism, from the ideology to everyday life in right-wing extremist milieus to towards concrete activities of individual actors.” The researchers would use a wide range of methods in order to obtain the most comprehensive picture possible. The research center will examine the right-wing scene in Baden-Württemberg as well as nationwide and, in some cases, international connections of the right-wing scene.
Thiel’s predecessor in the office of dean, the political scientist Professor Josef Schmid, said that the research center could build on a number of scientific projects at the University of Tübingen, including the Baden-Württemberg Democracy Monitor, the Collaborative Research Center “Threatened Orders” or a doctoral program on right-wing extremism . The Tübingen computer science with its focus on artificial intelligence will support research activities as well as the center for methods. The university’s Centers for Science Communication and Media Competence are further partners in research and the transfer of research results to civil society.