Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus von Beyme has passed away on 6 December 2021 at the age of 87.

Obituaries by colleagues and in the global press may be accessed here and from the editor of this series.
The religious service on Klaus von Beyme on 29 December 2021 from 12:00-12:30 in the Chapel Church in Heidelberg may be listened to here:

Nachrufe und Berichte der deutschsprachigen Presse sind hier zugänglich.
Den Gedenkgottesdienst zur Beerdigung von Klaus von Beyme am Mittwoch, dem 29. Dezember 2021, 12:00-12:30, in der Kapellengemeinde Heidelberg finden Sie hier:

On the author
On this book

Klaus von Beyme

Pioneer in the Study of Political Theory and Comparative Politics

2014, pp., with photos, figures, tables

ISBN (Softcover) 978-3-319-01534-7:
ISBN (Online/eBook): 978-3-319-01535-4
Download Order Form from here
Order this book on the Springer Website
Order electronic version and individual chapters

Important Links on Klaus von Beyme
Selected Videos with Klaus von Beyme
Books by Klaus von Beyme in German

Klaus von Beyme’s comprehensive scientific bibliography is here

• Most distinguished and highly awarded German political scientist
• Global pioneer in the study of political theory and comparative politics
• Addresses the political scientist as global scholar and public intellectual

Klaus von Beyme, a highly distinguished German political scientist is a “Pioneer in the Study of Political Theory and Comparative Politics”. On the occasion of the receipt of the highly esteemed Mattei Dogan Award Session during the XXII World Congress of Political Science in Madrid on 12 July 2012, in his laudatio Rainer Eisfeld portrayed Klaus v. Beyme as “Global Scholar and Public Intellectual”. On the occasion of Klaus v. Beyme’s 80th birthday this book offers a selection of his major previously published and new texts focusing on “Empirical Political Theory”, “The Evolution of Comparative Politics, Revival of Normative Political Theory in Empirical Research”, “Theodor W. Adorno - Political Theory as Theory of Aesthetics”, “Historical Forerunners of Policy Studies”, “Political Institutions – Old and New”, “Representative Democracy and the Populist Temptation”, “Political Advisors to Politicians”, and “The Concept of Political Class: A New Dimension of Research on Elites?”

Content Level » Research
Keywords » Comparative Politics - Global Scholar - Klaus von Beyme - Political Science - Political Theory - Public Intellectual
Related subjects » History of Science - Political Science - Social Sciences

On the author

Klaus von Beyme

On Political Culture, Cultural Policy, Art and Politics

2014, pp., with photo, figures, tables

ISBN (Softcover) 978-3-319-01558-3
ISBN (Online/eBook): 978-3-319-01559-0
Download Order Form from here
Order this book on the Springer Website
Order electronic version and individual chapters

• Most distinguished and highly awarded German political scientist
• Global pioneer in the study of political theory and comparative politics
• Innovative and original texts on political culture, cultural policy, art and politics

Klaus von Beyme is the most distinguished German political scientist and recipient of the Mattei Dogan Award of Political Science (2012). On his 80th birthday this book focuses on political culture, cultural policy, art and politics. The first part on transformation theory analyses: “Historical Memories in Political Theories”, “Histori¬cal Memory in Nation-Building and the Building of ethnic Subsystems”, “The Concept of Totalitarianism – A Reassessment after the Breakdown of Soviet Rule”, “Political Culture – A Concept from Ideological Refutation to Acceptance in the Soviet Social Sciences”, “Institutions and Political Culture in Post-Soviet Russia” and “Political and Economic Consolidation in Eastern Europe. Evidences from Empirical Data”. The second part on cultural policies addresses “Why is there no Political Science of the Arts?”, “Historical Memory and the Arts in the Era of the Avantgardes: Archaisme and Passéisme as a ‘passéisme of the future’”, and “Capital-building in Postwar Germany”.

Content Level » Research
Keywords » Art and Politics - Cultural Policy - Political Culture - Political Science - Political Theory
Related subjects » History of Science - Political Science - Social Sciences

On the author

Klaus von Beyme

Rightwing Populism - An Element of Neodemocracy

SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 40 (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019)

ISBN (Print): 978-3-030-03176-3
ISBN (My Copy): 978-3-030-03178-7

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• Is the latest English book by leading German political scientist Klaus von Beyme
• Offers a topical overview of populist developments in Europe and the United States
• Addresses neo-democracy as a positive alternative to post-democracy
• Written by a former president of the International Political Science Association (IPSA)

This book, written by a prominent German political scientist and specialist for political theory and comparative government, analyses right-wing populism as a topical theme of postmodern party systems in Europe and the United States.

Keywords: Populism in Europe and the Americas, Right-wing parties, History of Democracy, Postdemocracy, Neo-Democracy, democracy, historical sociology

Klaus von Beyme (Germany): is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. He studied Political Science, History, History of Art and Sociology at the Universities of Heidelberg, Bonn, Munich, Paris and Moscow (1956-1961). From 1961 to 1962, he was a Research Fellow at the Russian Research Centre of Harvard University and Assistant to Carl Joachim Friedrich. He obtained his doctorate (1963) and his habilitation (1967) from Heidelberg University. He was a Full Professor at the Tübingen University (1967–1973) and in 1971 was also its Rector a short time. From 1974 to 1999, Beyme was a Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.
He was President of the German Society for Political Science (DVPW, 1973-1975) and of the International Political Science Association (IPSA, 1982-1985). He taught as Visiting Professor at Stanford University (California) 1979 and at the École des Sciences Politiques in Paris (1985) and at the University of Melbourne, in Australia (1989). He served a member of the Research Council at the European University Institute in Florence (1983-1990), of the Board of the Commission for Research into Social and Political Changes in the New Federal States (1990-1993) and he is member of the Academia Europaea and of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. He received many awards for his scientific achievements, including Honorary Membership of the Humboldt University in Berlin (1995), the University Medal of the University of Heidelberg (1998), an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bern (2001). He was honoured with the Schader Prize (2008). In 2010 he received a Honorary Professorship at Lomonosov University in Moscow. In 2012, at the 22nd World Congress of Political Science of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Madrid he was awarded the Prize of the Foundation Mattei Dogan awarded by the International Political Science Association for High Achievement in Political Science. In Germany 41 % of political scientists considered him as the most important representative of their discipline and he was ranked second regarding “professional political importance”. Twice (1988, 1998) Klaus von Beyme was amongst the most important representatives of these fields of research: Political Theory, Political Philosophy and History of Ideas and for Comparative Political Science, System Comparison. His numerous books in many languages are listed in chapter 2 (PSP14).