Hanf, Theodor 1936–

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Hanf, Theodor 1936–

PERSONAL: Born March 20, 1936, in Düsseldorf, Germany. Education: Attended University of Bonn, Sorbonne, University of Paris, and American University of Beirut; University of Freiburg, Ph.D., 1966.

ADDRESSES: Office—International Centre for Human Sciences, P.O. Box 225, Byblos, Lebanon. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Sociologist, educator, and writer. German Institute of International Educational Research, Frankfurt, Germany, professor of sociology, 1972–; University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, professor of sociology and director of Arnold-Bergsträsser-iNSTITUT, 1972–; International Centre for Human Sciences, Byblos, Lebanon, director. American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, visiting professor of political studies, 2005. Member of board of directors, Research Institute of the German Association of International Relations; member of academic advisors council to German Foreign Office; member of executive committee, Euro-Arab Social Research Group; member of academic advisory board, German Justice and Peace Commission.

AWARDS, HONORS: Honorary professor of political science, University of Freiburg, 1973.

WRITINGS:

(With Wolfram Gabriel) Bildungsplanung in Entwicklungsländern, Duncker & Humblot (Berlin, Germany), 1966.

Erziehungswesen in Gesellschaft und Politik des Libanon, Bertelsmann (Bielefeld, Germany), 1969.

(With Patrick V. Dias, Franz-Wilhelm Heimer, and William Rideout, Jr.) Les étudiants universitaires congolais: une enquête sur leurs attitudes sociopolitiques, [Düsseldorf, Germany], 1971.

(With Manfred Hättich, Wolfgang Hilligen, and Rolf E. Vente) Éducation et dévelopement au Rwanda; problèmes, apories, perspectives, two volumes, edited by Hans Zwiefelhofer, Weltforum (Munich, Germany), 1974.

(With others) Funk-Kolleg sozialer Wandel, Fischer Taschenbuch (Frankfurt, Germany), 1975.

Der Libanonkrieg: Von der Systemkrise einer Konkordanzdemokratie zum "Spanischen Bürgerkrieg" der Araber?, Arnold Bergsträsser Institut (Freiburg, Germany), 1976.

(With others) Die arabische Welt: Geschichte, Probleme, Perspektiven, Ploetz (Freiburg/Würzburg, Germany), 1978.

(With others) Südafrika: Friedlicher Wandel?: Möglichkeiten demokratischer Konfliktregelung—eine empirische Untersuchnung, Mattias-Grünewald (Munich/Mainz, Germany), 1978, translated by John Richardson as South Africa: The Prospects of Peaceful Change: An Empirical Enquiry into the Possibility of Democratic Conflict Regulation, edited by Mark Orkin, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1981.

(With others) La société de concordance: approché comparative, University of Lebanon (Beirut, Lebanon), 1986.

Koexistenz im Krieg: Staatszerfall und Entstehen einer Nation im Libanon, Nomos (Baden-Baden, Germany), 1990, translated by John Richardson as Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon: Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation, Centre for Lebanese Studies/I.B. Tauris (London, England), 1993.

(With Valerie Møller) Learning to Vote: Voter Education in South Africa's 1994 Elections, Indicator Press (Durban, South Africa), 1995.

(Editor) Dealing with Difference: Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics: Comparing Cases and Concepts, Nomos (Baden-Baden, Germany), 1999.

(With Ghia Nodia) Georgia Lurching to Democracy: From Agnostic Tolerance to Pious Jacobinism: Societal Change and People's Reactions, Nomos (Baden-Baden, Germany), 2000.

(Editor, with Nawaf Salam) Lebanon in Limbo: Postwar Society and State in an Uncertain Regional Environment, Nomos (Baden-Baden, Germany), 2003.

(Editor, with Jürgen Rüland and Eva Manske) U.S. Foreign Policy toward the Third World: A Post-Cold War Assessment, M.E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 2005.

Also contributor to State and Nation in Multi-Ethnic Societies, edited by Uri Ra'anan and others, Manchester University Press (Manchester, England), 1991.

SIDELIGHTS: German sociologist and educator Theodor Hanf is well known for his writings on conflict and conflict resolution in such countries as Lebanon and South Africa. South Africa: The Prospects of Peaceful Change: An Empirical Enquiry into the Possibility of Democratic Conflict Regulation, according to Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the Times Literary Supplement, "is a mine of information…. The most important part of the book deals with black attitudes" in South Africa. Library Journal contributor John J. Grotpeter commented that Hanf "believes that peaceful change in South Africa is not impossible, especially if white leaders accept the growth of consociational democracy." A reviewer writing in Choice felt that Hanf's study is a "profound and disturbing analysis of the prospects for peaceful change in South Africa."

One of Hanf's highly praised titles, Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon: Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation, "combines a vast encyclopaedic history of the war in Lebanon with a penetrating sociological analysis," according to a contributor to the Centre for Lebanese Studies Web site. The book traces the origin of the war and addresses the conflict and conflict regulation of the Lebanese and the Palestinians. Kirsten E. Schulze, who called the book "essential to the study of modern Lebanon, and, indeed, to the study of conflict in any multi-communal state," observed in Beirut Review that "Hanf analyses the war through the thoughts, views, and desires of those participating in, and affected by, the conflict." Schulze went on to write, "Hanf approaches Lebanon as a divided society. This fits in with his previous work on South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Pakistan and Eastern Europe." Writing in the Middle East Quarterly, Daniel Pipes called the effort "a massive and original study," adding that the author "has produced the book that finally does justice to the enigma and the tragedy of the war."

Hanf is also the editor, with Nawaf Salam, of Lebanon in Limbo: Postwar Society and State in an Uncertain Regional Environment. This book presents various works from the World Congress for Middle East Studies held in Mainz in 2002, with presentations focusing on numerous issues of importance in Lebanon, including the people's notion of identity and the region's economy.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Beirut Review, fall, 1994, Kirsten E. Schulze, review of Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon: Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation, pp. 151-154.

Choice, December, 1981, review of South Africa: The Prospects of Peaceful Change: An Empirical Enquiry into the Possibility of Democratic Conflict Regulation, p. 552.

Current History, March, 1982, Virginia Curtin, review of South Africa, p. 129.

Library Journal, December 1, 1981, John J. Grotpeter, review of South Africa, p. 2320.

London Review of Books, June 13, 1991, Heribert Adam, "With or without the ANC," pp. 7-8.

Middle East Journal, winter, 2004, review of Lebanon in Limbo: Postwar Society and State in an Uncertain Regional Environment, p. 165.

Middle East Quarterly, December, 1994, Daniel Pipes, review of Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon.

New Internationalist, August, 1994, review of Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon.

Times Literary Supplement, February 26, 1982, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, review of South Africa, pp. 229-230.