Ludwg-Maximilians-Universität Munich
Sigmund Neumann – Realist with a View
The historian and political scientist Sigmund Neumann (1904-1962) was German, Jewish, and a democrat. Socialized in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, he emigrated to escape Nazi persecution. Today, his ideas on democracy and totalitarianism have almost been forgotten. Neumann is regarded as one of the founders of modern political science in the Federal Republic of Germany, yet is still underrated in his contributions to democratic theory as such and in his role of setting standards as to the way ‘Political Science’ has been understood, taught and explored in Germany since the 1950s. In her study of Sigmund Neumann’s life and work Marie-Sophie Graf argues that they remain relevant even today.
Marie-Sophie Graf has a PhD from the Political Science Departement at Ludwg-Maximilians-Universität Munich and was PhD fellow of the German National Academic Foundation. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and an Magister Artium in Modern and Contemporary History, History of Eastern and Southern-Eastern Europe and Modern German Literature from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. She also holds a Washington Semester Certificate from the American University in Washington, D.C.. She has been granted several scholarships by the German National Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, the Zempelin Foundation and was a Visiting Scholar at the History Departement of Columbia University, New York.
Publication:
Graf, Marie-Sophie, Sigmund Neumann - der totale Demokrat. Eine intellektuelle Biographie. Tübingen, 2021.
Graf, Marie-Sophie, Die Inszenierung der Neuen Armut im sozialpolitischen Repertoire von SPD und Grünen 1983-1987 , Frankfurt/M. u.a. 2015.