Heinz-Gerhard Haupt

Research project

Attacks in Europe. Reactions in France, Germany, Italy and Spain between 1875 and 1900.

Project summary

Studies on current terrorism and the methological premises of its study are the starting point for my analysis of the attacks that shook European societies and beyond in the last third of the 19th century. As our knowledge of the actors and their place among social movements is fairly advanced, my project focuses on reactions to the attacks, and will emphasize the study of state bodies and social networks and their response to violent acts. In the first part, it will look at the semantics of actors, media and political bodies; in the second, at the relationship between the methods used in different societies to prevent, repress and judge the actors of attacks; and in the third, the effects of bombs and violent attacks in cities and in a wider social context are the focus of interest. As in the current debate, the compatibility between state measures in response to attacks and the legal basis of states will be questioned. But the study goes beyond this, critically applying sociologist Stein Rokkan’s approach to determine the extent to which reactions are dependent on social and political constellations. The result will be a comparative study of Mediterranean and Western European countries, their political culture and their handling of social and political problems. The degree of “statebuilding” will be discussed as well as the specific political and social constellations that Stein Rokan distinguished in his study of European societies.