Nationality German Occupation Journalist, academic | Name Peter Neumann Role Journalist | |
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Organization The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence Books Britain's Long War: British Strategy in the Northern Ireland Conflict 1969-98 | ||
Peter R. Neumann (born 4 December 1974) is a German journalist and academic who frequently appears on radio and television as an expert on terrorism and political violence. He is the Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence as well as Professor of Security Studies at the War Studies Department of King's College London.
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Career
Before becoming an academic Neumann worked in Germany as a radio journalist. According to his biography he 'went to university in Berlin, Belfast and London. He received an MA in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin and a PhD in War Studies from King's College London.'
His German language book on the IRA, IRA: Langer Weg zum Frieden (The Long Way to Peace) was published in 1999 and republished in 2002.
In November 2003 Palgrave Macmillan published Neumann's second book Britain's Long War: British Strategy in the Northern Ireland Conflict 1969-98. As the title suggests, the book explored the strategy of the British Government in Northern Ireland from its intervention in 1969 to the Belfast Agreement in 1998.
In 2003 he was granted an 'Early Career Fellowship' by the Leverhulme Trust for research entitled 'Going political: terrorism and electoral politics'. He was listed as 'Peter Neumann MSc PhD, Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
In February 2004 History Today published an article by Neumann offering 'some useful lessons' from Northern Ireland which would ensure success for British forces in Iraq. His three lessons were: Lesson 1 - Don’t Fear Commitment, Lesson 2 - Don’t Ignore the Threat and Lesson 3 - Don’t Forget about Politics. In the article he argued that, 'Political leaders have to accept that there is stiff resistance to the occupation, and that a concerted campaign of counter-insurgency is necessary in order to re-establish law and order, even if this makes a swift end to the occupation impossible.'
Similarly in August 2005 he wrote an opinion piece for the International Herald Tribune offering three lessons in dealing with 'Al Qaeda and their associates' - namely 'be patient', 'be strong' and engage.
According to his own CV, it was in 2004 that Neumann was appointed Academic Director of the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security a terrorism conference organised by the Club de Madrid (an organisation consisting of former government officials, academics, think-tankers and journalists). The conference was held in Madrid in March 2005 and was, according to Neumann, the largest ever gathering of terrorism and security experts. After the conference, the Club de Madrid set up a website in association with openDemocracy 'dedicated to continuing the Madrid dialogue'. Its advisory board included Open Democracy's Chair and Vice-Chair, Kim Campbell Secretary General of the Club de Madrid and several other figures from think-tanks, the media and academia.
Neumann was appointed a member of the advisory board as well as the website's editor.
In March 2005 Neumann also acted as senior advisor to the National Policy Forum on Terrorism, Security and America's Purpose, which took place in Washington D.C in September 2005.
Neumann was director at the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London from 2005-7 and was then appointed as Director of The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR); a terrorism research institute based at King's College London. ICSR is a collaboration between King's College London; the University of Pennsylvania; the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel); and the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy.
Ahead of the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in 2017, Neumann served as adviser to Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) candidate Armin Laschet.