Rudolf Wildenmann

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Rudolf Wildenmann (born January 15, 1921 in Stuttgart , † July 14, 1993 in Mannheim ) was a German political scientist .

Wildenmann is regarded as one of the pioneers of empirical election research and a designer of the social science infrastructure in Germany and Europe. Wildenmann became known to the general public through his work on setting up the Mannheim research group Elections and his collaboration on the Politbarometer . He is an important representative of the so-called Cologne School of Political Science .

life and work

Wildenmann originally began a commercial apprenticeship, but was called up in 1939 and was taken prisoner in Canada during World War II . In the prison camp in Canada he was given the opportunity to take his high school diploma. That is why he ironically described himself as a "war profiteer". On his return to Germany in 1946 he began a social and economics studies in Heidelberg and Tübingen , which he in 1952 with an assisted by Dolf Sternberger as keynote speaker Promotion for dissertation topic 'party and faction' Alexander Rüstow at the Institute of Political Science in Heidelberg graduated.

From 1952 to 1959 he worked as a journalist in Bonn and for the Ostkolleg of the Federal Center for Homeland Service in Cologne. In 1959 he began working as an assistant at the University of Cologne with Ferdinand A. Hermens , who had just returned from the United States , and where he qualified as a professor in 1962 .

In 1964 he was appointed to the University of Mannheim . There he held the Chair of Political Science I until his retirement in 1989. In addition, Wildenmann held a parallel professorship in the USA (State University of New York SUNY ). As the founder of Mannheim's political science, Wildenmann, in collaboration with the sociologist M. Rainer Lepsius and the social psychologist Martin Irle, laid the foundation for election and party research there.

Together with Erwin K. Scheuch he worked on empirical microanalysis in political science research.

In 1974 he founded the Center for Surveys, Methods and Analyzes (ZUMA), of which he was chairman until 1980. In addition, from 1987 to 1990 he was a scientific member of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Social Science Infrastructure Institutions eV GESIS .

Wildenmann was rector of the University (WH) Mannheim several times. He was a member and temporarily district chairman of the CDU, but turned down offers to become a member of the Baden-Württemberg state government.

Rudolf Wildenmann's book publications from his dissertation ( party and parliamentary group , 1952/1954) to his criticism of the popular parties ( perplexed giants , 1989) are listed in the German library. In the Federal Archives Koblenz there are, still unordered, documents from the Mannheim FGE (Research Unit for Societal Development), which he was still in charge of after his retirement.

ZUMA

Wildenmann encouraged and played a key role in founding the Center for Surveys, Methods and Analyzes (ZUMA) in Mannheim, which began its work in 1974 as an auxiliary facility of the DFG and to facilitate and improve its social science work.

ZUMA advises social research on the creation, implementation and evaluation of social science studies, conducts its own studies, facilitates access to official data, and observes and analyzes social developments using social indicators . ZUMA also conducts its own research with the aim of improving the methodological and technical basis of social science research.

Honors

Rudolf Wildenmann Prize

The Rudolf Wildenmann Prize was donated by former colleagues and students of the political scientist. It is endowed with 1000 € and is awarded annually to a young scientist (within 5 years after the doctorate ) for an outstanding publication that was presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops . Co-authors are only permitted if they have acquired their doctorate no more than 5 years previously.

Works (selection)

  • Wahlforschung, BI-Taschenbuch-Verl., 1992.
  • with Hans Besters, eds. State of Europe ?. Vol. 9. Nomos, 1991.
  • with Werner Kaltefleiter. Popular parties: perplexed giants ?. Nomos, 1989.
  • The role of the Federal Constitutional Court and the Deutsche Bundesbank in the formation of political will: a contribution to democratic theory. Kohlhammer, 1969.
  • Expert opinion on the question of subsidizing political parties from public funds, Hain, 1968.
  • Elites in the Federal Republic. A sociological study of the attitudes of leading positions towards politics and democracy, Mannheim 1968.
  • with Werner Kaltefleiter. Functions of the mass media. No. 12. Athenäm Verlag, 1965.
  • Power and consensus as a problem of domestic and foreign policy. Vol. 2. Athenaeum, 1963.
  • Party and parliamentary group. A contribution to the analysis of political decision-making and the party system in the Federal Republic, Hain, 1955.

literature

  • Kaase, Max. "Rudolf Wildenmann: German scholar, institution builder, democrat." Comparative European politics: the story of a profession, London and Washington, Pinter (1997): 40-53.
  • LEHNER, F. "IN MEMORY OF WILDENMANN, RUDOLF." POLITICAL QUARTERLY WRITTEN 35.1 (1994): 110-112.
  • Roberts, Geoffrey K. "Rudolf Wildenmann: An appreciation." (1993): 485-485.
  • Sigel, Roberta S. "Rudolf Wildenmann." PS: Political Science & Politics 04/26 (1993): 821-821.
  • Kaase, Max. "Mass communication and political process. P. 357-374 in: Max Kaase (Ed.): Political science and political order. Analyzes of theory and empirical evidence of democratic governance. Festschrift for the 65th birthday of Rudolf Wildenmann." (1986).
  • Schröder, Gerhard. "Rudolf Wildenmann and the Ostkolleg of the Federal Center for Homeland Service." Political Science and Political Order. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 1986. 473–475.
  • Hohmann, Karl. "Remembering years of working with Rudolf Wildenmann." Political Science and Political Order. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 1986. 463–472.
  • Hurtig, S. "Lettre à Rudolf Wildenmann et Jörgen Westerstahl." Fonds Hurtig, troisième versement 25 (1969).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Wildenmann Prize , accessed on March 16, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Wildenmann, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1993
Place of death Mannheim