Wolfgang Gessenharter

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Wolfgang Gessenharter (born January 25, 1942 in Kaufbeuren , Allgäu ; † December 13, 2019 ) was a German political scientist . He was professor emeritus at the Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg (HSU / UniBw H).

Life

Wolfgang Gessenharter began his studies in Latin and Catholic theology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich in 1961 and after two years moved to the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg im Breisgau , where he studied political science, history and sociology from 1963 to 1968 , Studied philosophy and constitutional law. From 1968 to 1973 he was a research assistant at the University of Freiburg. He received his doctorate in 1972 with the dissertation Social Environment: a political science concept analysis . At the end of the 1970s he joined the SPD and was most recently a member of the SPD local association Buxtehude .

plant

From 1973 to 2007 Wolfgang Gessenharter held a professorship for political science at the Helmut Schmidt University. His focus in teaching and research was democratic theory and political culture , in particular right-wing extremism and New Rights in Germany as well as participation / citizen participation . Gessenharter is considered to be one of the formative authors for the concept of the New Right, which he places in a "hinge function" between conservatism and right-wing extremism. He sees it as a movement that forms an independent network that is not part of right-wing extremism. This assessment is criticized by Armin Pfahl-Traughber as belittling, as many of the representatives of the New Right named by Gessenharter are directed against fundamental principles of the democratic constitutional state and should therefore be counted as right-wing extremism. On the other hand, Gessenharter would defame democratic conservatives by using vague terms.

The 1978 study on Is Peaceful Change Possible in South Africa? at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg made him and his co-authors known beyond the boundaries of science. His following study, an empirical analysis of the attitudes of student officers at the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg and of military and civilian comparison groups, showed that around 10 percent of the students at the Hamburg Federal Armed Forces University had right-wing authoritarian and anti-democratic attitudes. In academia, the reaction to the study was largely positive, while other press comments saw it as an attack on the Bundeswehr. Since then, Wolfgang Gessenharter has dealt continuously with the phenomenon of right-wing extremism in Germany, especially with the intellectual New Right, and has devoted around 60 publications to this topic.

Wolfgang Gessenharter has carried out a number of public participations in Hamburg and other cities, including a project in Buxtehude about living together with foreigners (1993/94); in Hamburg one on drug problems at the main train station (1998/1999) and a project on the expansion and modernization of the Hamburger Messe (2000) as well as the school project Dialogic Self-Observation in Schools and in their Social Environment (1998-2006); in Bremen a. a. a project with the Werder Bremen sports club (2004/05).

Memberships

Gessenharter was a member of the board of the Darmstädter Signal support group .

Fonts (selection)

  • with Helmut Fröchling (ed.): Atomic economy and internal security. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1989.
  • The "New Right" as a hinge between neoconservatism and right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic. In: R. Eisfeld, I. Müller (ed.): Against barbarism. Essays in honor of Robert MW Kempner. Athenaeum, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 978-3-610-08537-7 , pp. 424-452.
  • with Helmut Fröchling (Ed.): Minorities - Potential for Disruption or Opportunity for a Peaceful Society? Nomos, Baden-Baden 1991, ISBN 978-3-7890-2327-9 .
  • Is the republic overturning? The New Right and its support from politics and the media. Knaur, Munich 1994, ISBN 978-3-426-80026-3 .
  • with Helmut Fröchling: New rights and right-wing extremism in Germany. In: Jens Mecklenburg (Ed.): Handbook of German right-wing extremism. Elefanten Press, Berlin 1996, ISBN 978-3-88520-585-2 , pp. 550-571 ( online ).
  • with Helmut Fröchling (Hrsg.): Right-wing extremism and new rights in Germany: remeasuring a political-ideological space? Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1998, ISBN 978-3-8100-2053-6 , pp. 25-66.
  • On the function of the new right friend-enemy image in the past and present of the Federal Republic. In: Michael Th. Greven , Oliver von Wrochem (Ed.): The war in the post-war period. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2000, pp. 197-211.
  • Intellectual currents and thought leaders in the German New Radical Right. In: Thomas Grumke , Bernd Wagner (Hrsg.): Handbuch Rechtsradikalismus . People - organizations - networks from neo-Nazism to the middle of society. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2002, ISBN 978-3-8100-3399-4 .
  • Extremism. In: Martin Greiffenhagen , Sylvia Greiffenhagen , Katja Neller (eds.): Concise dictionary on the political culture of the Federal Republic of Germany. 2nd edition, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 2002, ISBN 978-3-531-13209-9 .
  • The New Intellectual Right and its political and media support. In: Stephan Braun, Daniel Hörsch (ed.): Right networks - a danger. VS, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 978-3-8100-4153-1 .
  • With Thomas Pfeiffer (ed.): The new right, a threat to democracy? VS, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8100-4162-9 .
  • The Schmittismus der Junge Freiheit and its incompatibility with the Basic Law. In: Stephan Braun , Ute Vogt (ed.): The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit". Critical analyzes of the program, content, authors and customers. VS, Wiesbaden 2007, pp. 77–94 ( Online: Dossier right-wing extremism , Federal Center for Political Education (publisher)) December 18, 2007
  • What is right-wing extremism? Central aspects of a complex problem. In: Holger Spöhr, Sarah Kolls (Hrsg.): Right-wing extremism in Germany and Europe. Current development trends in comparison. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2010 ( online ).
  • Local citizen participation as a strategy against right-wing extremism. Some reflections on experience. In: Henrique Ricardo von Otten, Manfred Sicking (Ed.): Criticism and Passion. From dealing with political ideas. transcript, Bielefeld 2011, pp. 117-131 ( online ).
  • Opportunities and Limits of Citizen Participation - Theory and Practice. In: Stephan Braun, Alexander Geisler (Ed.): The disgruntled democracy. Modern popular rule between departure and frustration. Springer, Wiesbaden 2012, pp. 237-246 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice. In: Stader Tageblatt. December 21, 2019.
  2. ↑ http://www.prof-gessenharter.de/vita.html
  3. ^ Stanford University Libraries
  4. ↑ http://tageblatt-trauer.iannounce.mobi/nachruf/prof-dr-wolfgang-gessenharter/56207123
  5. ^ Richard Stöss : The "new right" in the Federal Republic , Federal Agency for Civic Education , December 17, 2007.
  6. ↑ Armin Pfahl-Traughber: Conservative Revolution and New Right . Opladen 1998.
  7. ↑ a b Michael Minkenberg: Citizens as Scientists - to say goodbye to Professor Dr. Wolfgang Gessenharter , speech on April 19, 2007.
  8. ↑ Board of the sponsorship group. In: https://www.darmstaedter-signal.de/ . Retrieved January 26, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Gessenharter, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Kaufbeuren
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 2019