Theodor Ebert (political scientist)

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Theodor Ebert (born May 6, 1937 in Stuttgart ) is a German political scientist , sociologist and peace researcher .

Life

He studied history, German and political science in Tübingen, Munich, London, Paris and Erlangen. Since the 1960s, Theodor Ebert was instrumental in developing the concept of social defense as an alternative to warfare. For this purpose, he founded the journal Nonviolent Action in 1969 . Ebert was also a member of the Association of Conscientious Objectors and was temporarily on its federal board.

From 1972 to 1984 Ebert was a member of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany and from 1984 to 1996 a member of the church leadership of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg . In 1989 he became the founding chairman of the Federation for Social Defense . For years he also campaigned for the creation of a civil peace service .

Ebert was a professor at the Otto Suhr Institute (OSI) at the Free University of Berlin until 2002, where he was managing director of the Institute for Domestic Policy and System Comparison.

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Theodor Ebert's oeuvre is characterized by his strictly pacifist attitude. This is expressed, for example, in his (cautious) advocacy for the demilitarization of the Federal Republic of Germany and its exit from NATO . However, Ebert not only makes such demands, but also deals intensively with alternatives to military actions (see below). He always emphasizes the long duration of the replacement of combative behavior by pacifist processes, as the latter require more extensive and well-founded planning. In this enforcement process, Ebert regards solidarity as a decisive factor in the strategies for action. For example, politicians in pacifist parties have to be sure of the solidarity of their voters in (unconventional) peaceful decisions.

Nonviolent Action / Social Defense

Theodor Ebert tried to systematize nonviolent action. There was a collaboration with Gene Sharp , who classified methods of nonviolent action. This theory represents an alternative to combative actions of various dimensions. Here, the non-violent forms of action are basically differentiated into negative and constructive or affirmative and creative. First of all, this makes it clear that it is not enough to denounce or fight a grievance, but that it should always be countered with a constructive alternative. There are three levels of increase for both the negative and the affirmative.

1st stage: Protest as a negation, showing better possibilities than an affirmation

2nd level: Legal non-cooperation as a negation, legal assumption of roles (renewal, practice of knowledge) as an affirmation

3rd level: Negative form: civil disobedience ; affirmative form as open violation of the law: civil self-government.

Ebert also applied this principle in his seminars and trained non-violent behavior with students in role-playing games (similar to the police workshops against violence in public).

In summary, Ebert regards his most important research area, social defense, as one of many “social inventions” of the 20th century, which, along with scientific inventions, has fallen behind. Parliamentarism and the democratic multi-party system, for example, are other such social inventions. Nonviolent action is now a form of democratic expression of will, that is, power from below. It is also characterized by the fact that participation in it is voluntary and nobody (in contrast to military structures) can be forced into it. Ebert sees social defense not as a panacea and realistic path to world peace, but rather as a careful survival strategy in a world that is increasingly threatened by scientific inventions in its cohesion. In this context, Ebert also spoke intensively about the threat to the western world from terrorism and how western states deal with it. Accordingly, he definitely sees a possibility of non-violent resistance to terrorist acts, which, however, is more aimed at combating the causes.

Fonts

  • Nadya Luer : Bibliography - Theodor Ebert . In: Christian Büttner, Gernot Jochheim, Nadya Luer, Torsten Schramm (eds.): Politics from below. On the past and present of nonviolent action. Theodor Ebert on his 60th birthday. Nonviolent Action, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-9804408-1-8 , pp. 223-240. This volume appeared at the same time as a special volume of the journal Nonviolent Action. Quarterly issues for peace and justice , 29th year, 2nd quarter 1997, issue 111/112. ISSN  0016-9390
  • Nonviolent uprising. Alternative to civil war . Freiburg i.Br .: Verlag Rombach, 1st edition 1968, 408 pages. (This main work by Ebert, which is based on his dissertation at the University of Erlangen in 1965, appeared in 1970 in an edition that was heavily revised and updated by the author as Fischer-Taschenbuch 1123. A reprint of this was published in 1981 by Waldkircher Verlagsgesellschaft, Waldkirch i.Br ., the third edition of which appeared in 1983 with a new afterword and a new bibliography.)
  • Possibilities for nonviolent actions. Frankfurt a. M .: German Pax-Christi Secretariat, 1971, 92 pages.
  • From the life of a peace researcher. Experimental texts. Special issue of the journal Nonviolent Action. Quarterly Bulletin for Peace and Justice , 38th vol., 2-4. Quarter 2006, issue 147-148-149, 151 pages. ISSN  0016-9390
  • with Hans-Jürgen Benedict (Ed.): Power from below - citizens' movement, extra-parliamentary opposition and church reform , Furche Verlag, Hamburg 1968
  • (Ed.) Civil resistance. Case studies on nonviolent, direct action from domestic peace and conflict research . Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann Universitätsverlag, 1970, 322 pp. ISBN 3-571-09256-2
  • (Ed.) Defense policy without weapons. From passive resistance to social defense. Opladen: Argus Verlag, 1972, 168 pages. ISBN 3-92033-703-4
  • Civil Peace Service. Alternative to the military. Basic training in nonviolent action. Münster: Agenda-Verlag, 1997. ISBN 3-89688-004-7
  • Civil disobedience - From the APO to the peace movement , Waldkircher Verlagsgesellschaft, Waldkirch 1984
  • with Dieter Senghaas , Reiner Steinweg : Constructive conflict resolution. Criticism and counter-criticism , Haag and Herchen Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1991
  • Opposing and governing with nonviolent means - pacifism - principles and experiences for the 21st century , Volume 1, LIT Verlag Hamburg 2001
  • (Mithrsg.): Yearbook for Peace and Conflict Research , Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann Universitätsverlag 1971ff.
  • with April Carter, Michael Schroeren: Direct action . Guide to Nonviolent Resistance, Verlag Weber & Zucht , Versandbuchhandlung & Verlag, Kassel 1983
  • with Ulrich Frey, Hans J. Fischbeck: The civil peace service. A new means for a new policy , Evangelical Academy Mülheim an der Ruhr 1994
  • with Albert Fuchs , Johan Galtung a . a .: Researching goodness. Power of nonviolence, Satyagraha , Strength to Love, Versöhnungsbund e. V. 1999
  • Lexical keyword "Nonviolent Action" . In: Reiner Steinweg / Ulrike Laubenthal (Ed.): Nonviolent Action. Experiences and analyzes , Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2011

literature

  • Special volume of the magazine Nonviolent Action. Quarterly issues for peace and justice , 29th year, 2nd quarter 1997, issue 111/112. ISSN  0016-9390 (Festschrift for Ebert's 60th birthday)
  • Roland Vogt: Nonviolent Politics as a Profession. Lecture on the 60th birthday of Theodor Ebert, given on May 6, 1997 in the Haus der Kirche, Berlin-Charlottenburg. In: Nonviolent Action. Quarterly issues for peace and justice , 29th year, 3rd and 4th quarter 1997, issue 113/114, pp. 46–54. ISSN  0016-9390

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Federal Congress 1968 , Civil, Volume 13, No. 6, June 1968, p. 63
personal data
SURNAME Ebert, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist and peace researcher
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart