18 scientists in Bavaria want to research right-wing extremism and develop counter-strategies over the next four years. As the University of Passau announced on Thursday, the state government is supporting the research network of eleven institutions with 4.5 million euros. The East Bavarian Technical University of Regensburg is responsible for coordination.
Among other things, the significance of anti-Semitic conspiracy myths for right-wing extremist communication strategies will be researched. Another research question is to what extent right-wing extremists used crises such as the corona pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine to gain new followers.
“In times of crisis it becomes clear how fragile the social and democratic consensus is – anti-Semitism has a hinge function here and regularly comes to the fore,” said sociologist Karin Stögner, who teaches in Passau. A sub-project with the JFF Institute for Media Education in Munich is investigating which topics and types of images appear particularly frequently on social networks and provoke a lot of reactions.
The Ludwig Maximilians University, the University of Applied Sciences, the University of Politics, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Institute for Contemporary History and the JFF are part of the research network for contemporary analysis, memory practice and counter-strategies to right-wing extremism in Bavaria (ForGeRex) in Munich -Institute for Media Education involved. There are also the universities in Passau, Augsburg and Regensburg as well as the Nuremberg Technical University.