Peter R. Neumann

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 Founding 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.

Early life and career
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.'

Career in academia
Neumann's German language book on the IRA, IRA: Langer Weg zum Frieden (The Long Way to Peace) was published in 1999. In 2003 Palgrave Macmillan published his second book Britain's Long War: British Strategy in the Northern Ireland Conflict 1969-98.

In 2003 he was granted an 'Early Career Fellowship' by the Leverhulme Trust for research entitled 'Going political: terrorism and electoral politics'.

Neumann was director at the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London from 2005-7 and was then Director of The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR); a terrorism research institute based at King's College London. The Centre has been focused on new approaches to the study of terrorism, specifically radicalisation and recruitment online. Their report, Caliphate in Decline, accounted for ISIS income and questioned the traditional 'countering terrorist finance' framework suggesting it was less relevant for a group like ISIS that - at the time - controlled large areas of land.

Political activities
Ahead of the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in 2017, Neumann served as adviser to Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) candidate Armin Laschet.

In October 2019, Neumann was present for a speech Michael Gove made at the German embassy in London on German Unity Day, and summarised part of the speech on social media. The content of the summary was disputed by Gove, who requested that he "reflect the whole speech in context". Neumann described a negative reaction to parts of the speech from the audience, who he said "clearly felt that a comparison was made" between the reunification of Germany and Brexit.

Ahead of the 2021 elections, CDU chairman Armin Laschet included Neumann in his eight-member shadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats’ campaign.

Other activities

 * Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Member of the European Expert Network on Terrorism Issues
 * International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR)
 * Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, a project of the Fourth Freedom Forum, Advisor

Publications

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