Thomas Schmidinger 
was born in 1974 and is a political scientist as well as a
social and cultural anthropologist. Since 1998 he attended study visits
and journeys to various Middle East nations and Arabic, Turkish and
Spanish courses in Cairo, Tunis, Istanbul and Guatemala. He
has a lecturing position at the Vienna
University's Institute for
Political Science and at the University of Applied Science Vorarlberg
; board memberships at LEEZA (an aid organization
active in Iraq and Turkey), Westpapua-Solidarität Wien, and
the Society for the Critical Study of Anti-Semitism; and the position
of advisory council at Iraquna
(a society that promotes relations
between Austria and Iraq). Schmidinger is a member of the Austrian
Society for Political Science, the Sudan Studies Association, and the
International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, and reviewer
for the Austrian Journal of Political Science (ÖZP), the
Austrian Journal of Sociology (ÖZS), and the Austrian Exchange
Service (ÖAD).
2009 until 2010 he was President of the university lecturers union IG
Externe LektorInnen und freie WissenschafterInnen and since
2010 he is affiliated member of the Senate and the
workers´council of the University of Vienna
.
2010/2011 he was Research Fellow at the Center
for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Contact: thomas.schmidinger@univie.ac.at
List of Publications
Selected publications:
Islam, Migration, and the
Muslim Communities in Europe: History, Legal Framework, and
Organizations
A chapter of the book 'Looming Shadows. Migration and
Integration at a Time of Upheaval. European and American Perspectives
, edited together with Vedran Džihić, provides an overview of the
Muslim communities in
Europe, their ethnic and religious background, their social, economic
and legal status, and their organizations.
Published in the book series of the
Center for Transatlantic Relations at Brookings Institution Press, Washington DC, December 2011
Tyrants and Terrorists:
Reflections on the Connection between
Totalitarianism, Neo-liberalism, Civil War and the Failure of the State
in Iraq and Sudan
Failed states that foster warlords and terrorists are now an
increasing
challenge to state stability across the Middle East. This paper uses
the case
studies of Iraq and Sudan to show how a neo-liberal policy of
dismantling the
public sector by an illegitimate regime that combines tribalisation
with the
arbitrary use of power leads to dramatic weakening of the state and an
increase in warlordism.
Civil Wars 11 (2009): 3, 359 — 379
Internationalism made in
Austria
Review of Fritz Kellers book 'Gelebter Internationalismus.
Österreichs Linke und der algerische Widerstand (1958 - 1963)'
Austrian Studies Newsletter, Fall 2011
Yemen: State Failure by
Regime Support?
This article considers the causes of conflict in
Yemen and poses the following question: can the
western states’ strategy of providing financial,
logistic and military support to the government
under President Ali Abdullah Saleh contribute to
stabilizing the country, or could it weaken the
Yemenite state instead?
Orient, II/2010
Richard Buchta and the Kadi of
Khartoum
The pictures of the Austrian traveler Richard Buchta from
Sudan, his lost publication and the debate in the SSA-Bulletin
Sudan Studies Association Bulletin Vol. 28, NO.2, Fall 2010
Neuland: bringing refugees and
Austrian residents together
Paper with Margerita Piatti about 'Neuland': The main issue of
the project 'Neuland' (German: new ground) is to
find a way of communication
between Austrian residents and refugees in rural areas of Lower
Austria.
Proceedings of cAIR10, the first Conference on Applied Interculturality
Research (Graz, Austria, 7-10 April 2010)
Suppressed but not defeated:
Unionism in Sudan
Sudan Studies Association Bulletin Vol. 27, No. 2, May-June 2009
A son’s death, a father’s centenary
The Kreiskys and postwar Austria
Austrian Studies Newsletter Vol. 23, No.1, Spring 2011
Brigitte Spreitzer´s psychoanalytic theory of art
Interview with Brigitte Spreitzer
Austrian Studies Newsletter Vol. 23, No.1, Spring 2011
European Strategies of the New
Right - the example of the FPÖ
The European politics of the FPÖ (Freiheitliche
Partei Österreichs / Freedom Party of Austria) is not only a
mirror of the entire diversity of a quite contradictory and in parts
very tactical relationship of the entire New Right towards "Europe".
aus: Abramsky, Kolya: Restructuring and Resistance, Diverse Voices of
Struggle in Western Europa
United Kingdom, 2001
El Irán de Mahmud
Ahmedineyad: ¿República revolucionaria o
neoliberalismo islámico?
La muerte del gran ayatola disidente Hossein Alí
Montazeri, de
87 años y de la era Jomeini, activó estos
días las protestas de los reformistas
iraníes, en medio del clima represivo instalado luego de la
cuestionada reelección de Mahmud Ahmadineyad.
Pulso (Bolivia), 27 de diciembre al 9 de enero de 2010
min bagdhad ila or yahuda
Tariq al-Shaab (Arabic, Iraq) January 2007
La diglaua barau donau
Beyani (Kurdish/Sorani, Iraq) No. 12, 23th of April 2006