PhD StudentJustus Raimann

Justus Raimann is a PHD-Student at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. He obtained both his Master’s and Bachelor’s degree at the Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, in History and Political Sciences respectively. Significant parts of his academic work so far have been motivated by his interest in the manifold ways in which perceptions of history influence the present.

His Master thesis examined the medial and political reactions to the New York Times’ 1619 Project, and how their intensity can be explained. For this piece of writing, he won an award of the Förderverein Geschichte an der Universität Tübingen.

His Bachelor thesis on the other hand constructed a theoretical framework within which depictions of history can be understood as a factor of legitimization, elaborated on the example of Putin’s Russia, and completed before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by that same state.

Privately, Justus is an avid participant and judge in the university debating circuit, mainly with the University of Tübingens Streitkultur e.V.

• Global and European right-wing extremism, with a focus on the German-speaking area

• History of Nationalism

• Memory and History Politics and their role within political systems

• Public History

• Right-wing networks in online and offline spaces

The Aggressor within discourses of the extreme right

Supervisor: Prof Dr Stefan Berger (Ruhr University Bochum)

The dissertation project explores the role of aggressors within discourses of the extreme right, with a focus on the German-speaking area. As scenarios of threat and impending doom are important elements of right-wing ideologies and worldviews that legitimize political activity and even terroristic violence as “resistance”, it is of great interest to investigate the role that aggressors play within this. Furthermore, recognizing the mobilizing potential of aggressors as a tool to also influence a wider public, the function of aggressors within the extreme right’s communication strategy is also an important aspect of his research. 

The project will examine and explore the ways in which aggressors are present within discourses of the extreme right in Europe, as well as the utilization of narratives about them as part of broader political and communicative strategies within the public sphere. The initial focus will lie with contemporary activities in the German-speaking countries, before branching out further, utilizing the interconnectedness of right-wing movements in Europe.

In this, the project (partly) catalogs the ways in which aggressors are employed within narratives of the extreme right. On one hand, the ideological, “internal” function of aggressors within right-wing frameworks will be explored, while on the other, the project will also scrutinize the role the figure plays in the communication with the general public. The prevalence of certain figures in certain contexts, as well as their absence, and the parallels drawn between past and present, can improve scholarly understanding of the extreme right. This also encompasses the relativization of aggression in some cases.

The project does not only intend to research the right and its modes of communication and mobilization, but also contribute to unmasking them. Within the patterns exposed by scrutinizing who counts as an aggressor for the extreme right, and who does not, there might be compelling examples to show the misanthropic tendencies at the core of right-wing movements. As right-wing actors are the most serious threat to democracy and human rights in Europe as well as globally, exploring ways to combat their rhetoric is a very important cause.