Alexander Strassner

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Alexander Straßner (* 1974 in Zwiesel ) is a German political scientist and university professor. He is an expert on terrorism .

Life

Straßner's parents are the owners of a medium-sized company. After graduating from high school in Zwiesel, he studied political science, sociology, history and German at the University of Passau from 1995 and graduated in 2000 with a Magister Artium. From 1998 to 2002 he worked as a freelancer for Hessischer Rundfunk . In 2002 he passed the state examination in pedagogy, psychology and social studies in April and received his doctorate in political science under Martin Sebaldt on the third generation of the Red Army Faction in July . Between 2001 and 2003, with interruptions, he was a research assistant at the Heinrich Oberreuters chair in Passau and research assistant at the chair for comparative political science (focus on Western Europe) at the University of Regensburg from 2003 to 2005 . Since 2005, Straßner has been Academic Councilor at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Regensburg , and since October 2012 as Senior Councilor. He has completed teaching positions at other universities ( University of Applied Sciences of the bfi Vienna , still ongoing, University of the Federal Armed Forces, Munich ). In 2013 he completed his habilitation in political science. His habilitation thesis dealt with military dictatorships in the 20th century and critically examined their potential for modernization .

dissertation

Straßner's dissertation on the third generation of the Red Army Faction closed a research gap that had arisen due to the extremely sparse publicly available information about this newly formed command level of the RAF, which was active from the mid-1980s. While the first and second generations of the RAF, who had been active in the 1970s, had a broad media and scientific discussion, there was no in-depth discussion of the third generation up until Straßner's work. The long lack of information or information held back by the authorities for tactical investigative reasons on their persons, structures and responsibilities for attacks had ensured the widespread dissemination of the conspiracy theory that the third generation did not even exist and was only a construct of authorities to justify their own activities and to cover up secret service actions under false flags (especially Gerhard Wisnewski's book Das RAF-Phantom ). Straßner cited as the “primary motivation” for his preoccupation with the subject, “[d] en rumors about a 'phantom' third RAF generation ... to oppose decisively and definitively and the official measures to combat terrorism in one way or another to work. "

Straßner goal was to improve the structuring and typology, which should ideally describe the decay process of a terrorist organization, and went from system- and extremism theory of assumptions. Most of the time his book has received positive reviews; The contemporary historian Stephan Scheiper, who worked on West German left-wing terrorism of the 1970s, calls it a “milestone” and praises the “development and analysis of the sources” as exemplary, even if he does not share all the conclusions. The contemporary historian Annette Vowinckel emphasizes that Straßner reconstructed the development of this generation very precisely, considers his arguments to be convincing and the book to be important. She criticizes the fact that the author did not reflect on the statements of some party or journalistic sources and did not speak to the living former RAF members himself. The sociologist Christian Hißnauer criticizes the fact that “only the arguments are taken into account, others are discussed away”.

Works

Monographs

  • The third generation of the “Red Army Faction”. Formation, structure, functional logic and disintegration of a terrorist organization. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-531-14114-7 , also dissertation, University of Passau, 2002, preview .
  • with Martin Sebaldt : Associations in the Federal Republic of Germany. An introduction. Wiesbaden 2004.
  • with Ondrej Kalina, Stefan Köppl, Uwe Kranenpohl , Rüdiger Lang, Jürgen Stern: Basic course in political science. Introduction to scientific work. Wiesbaden 2003.
  • Military dictatorships in the 20th century. A comparison of motivation, domination techniques and modernization. Springer, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-02155-9 .

Editorships

  • with Martin Sebaldt: Classic of association research. Wiesbaden 2006.
  • with Margarete Klein: When states fail. Theory and empiricism of state collapse. Wiesbaden 2007.
  • Social Revolutionary Terrorism. Theory, ideology, case studies, future scenarios. Wiesbaden 2008.
  • with Martin Sebaldt: Uprising and Democracy. Counterinsurgency as a normative and practical challenge to western government systems. Wiesbaden 2011.

Others

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Alexander Straßner: The third generation of the "Red Army Fraction". Formation, structure, functional logic and disintegration of a terrorist organization. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 6.
  2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, all information on the résumé is taken from the résumé (PDF) at the University of Regensburg.
  3. ↑ Alexander Straßner: The third generation of the "Red Army Fraction". Formation, structure, functional logic and disintegration of a terrorist organization. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 6.
  4. ↑ a b Christian Hißnauer: Of myths, legends and conspiracy theories - and how not to refute them. Review. In: Icons . Magazine for art, culture and lifestyle.
  5. ↑ Alexander Straßner: The third generation of the "Red Army Fraction". Formation, structure, functional logic and disintegration of a terrorist organization. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 5.
  6. ^ Stephan Scheiper: Collective review: Red Army Fraction (RAF). In: H-Soz-u-Kult , June 2005.
  7. ^ Annette Vowinckel: A Lack of Ideology or Anti-Americanism? In: H-Net Reviews , September 2006.
personal data
SURNAME Straßner, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Zwiesel