Bernhard Blumenau

Dr Bernhard Blumenau is a Senior Lecturer in International History and Politics at the School of International Relations and the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence(CSTPV). His research interests centre on the historical evolution of German foreign policy and the history of terrorism. In terms of German foreign policy, his focus extends to long-term trends and patterns in German foreign policy with a particular emphasis on developments since World War II. Regarding the history of terrorism, his interests include German terrorism and antiterrorism policies, the intricate connections between terrorism and the Cold War, as well as multilateral antiterrorism initiatives and the role that international organisations have played within them. He is currently working on a new research project on the long history of state terrorism, from the Middle Ages until today. He is also interested in the general history of international relations, diplomacy, and the Cold War.

Dr Blumenau holds degrees from the University of Dresden (Germany) and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Switzerland). During his studies, he also spent one year at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). He is fluent in German, English, and French; and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and a Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland (MYAS).

He is the author of The United Nations and Terrorism. Germany, Multilateralism, and Antiterrorism Efforts in the 1970s (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) which looks at the rise of international terrorism as a significant problem for German foreign policy and for the international community, and assesses the attempts of the UN to cope with the challenges of international terrorism in the 1970s. Dr Blumenau is also co-editor of New Perspectives on the End of the Cold War (Routledge,2018) and An International History of Terrorism. Western and Non-Western Experiences (Routledge, 2013) as well as the author of articles in journals such as International Affairs, the Journal of Cold War Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and the Journal of Contemporary History.