Peter Neumann

Peter Neumann

Peter R Neumann is a German born academic who frequently appears on radio and television as an expert on terrorism and political violence. He is Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College London where he is a senior lecturer in War Studies.

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.'

In November 2003 Palgrave Macmillan published Neumann's book Britain's Long War: British Strategy in the Northern Ireland Conflict 1969-98. As the title suggest, the book explored the strategy of the British Government in Northern Ireland from its intervention in 1969 to the Belfast Agreement in 1998. Publishing information on the book described Neumann as being a Research Fellow in International Conflict at Kingston University (although this may be an error). In 2003 he was granted an 'Early Career Fellowship' by the Leverhulme Trust for '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. 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.

Peter 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). He is Editor of terrorism.openDemocracy.net.

Prior to this appointment, he was Academic Director of the Club de Madrid's International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security (the largest ever gathering of terrorism and security experts) in Madrid in March 2005, and served as senior advisor to the National Policy Forum on Terrorism, Security and America's Purpose in the United States in 2005. He also held an Early Career Fellowship of the Leverhulme Trust. He is a member of the Club de Madrid's expert advisory council, as well as of the editorial boards of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and Democracy and Security. Dr Neumann studied 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. Before becoming an academic, he worked as a radio journalist in Germany.

Current Research

Dr Neumann currently works on a book which looks at how globalisation has transformed terrorism. He is also leading a number of research projects that examine the radicalisation of young Muslims in Europe. Other research interests include terrorist strategy, negotiations, as well as foreign policy in the 'war on terror'.

Select Publications

Dr Neumann is the co-author of The Strategy of Terrorism, which will be published by Routledge in late 2007 (with MLR Smith). Previous publications include Britain's Long War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), a comprehensive assessment of British strategy in the Northern Ireland conflict, as well as numerous articles on terrorism and counter-terrorism in journals like Survival, Foreign Affairs, Orbis, and Terrorism and Political Violence. Shorter analyses have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Prospect Magazine and other publications.

Dr Neumann is the editor of the Club de Madrid series on Democracy and Terrorism, which is published by Routledge. His German language publications include a history of the IRA (IRA: Langer Weg zum Frieden, EVA, 1999) and a biography of Al Gore (Al Gore: Eine Biographie, DVA, 2000).

Affiliations

• Club de Madrid
• OpenDemocracy.net, author
• Center on Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, a project of the Fourth Freedom Forum, Advisor
• International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, workshop participant 2007.

Publications, Notes

Publications

Peter R. Neumann 'Europe’s Jihadist Dilemma' Survival Vol 48, No 2 - Summer 2006 the quarterly journal of the IISS

Case studies

In June 2008 Neumann told the Islington Gazette that newly appointed London Mayor Boris Johnson should stop cycling to work because he was a potential terrorist target. Neumann was quoted as saying: "The risk he faces increased a lot when he became Mayor. What is particularly problematic is cycling. He is not in a car, so he has no protection. If someone wanted to do him harm it would be quite easy. Immediately on taking office he would have been advised on security...There is very little one can do to protect him on a bike. It makes him very vulnerable. I would strongly advise him not to ride into work." Johnson's office said he had been advised by the Police Commissioner that there was no security threat.