Florian Hartleb

https://hartlebflorian.com/ Florian Hartleb (born 1979 in Passau, Germany) is a political scientist and extremism researcher whose work focuses on radicalization, terrorism, and contemporary populism, with particular attention to right-wing lone-actor violence and digital subcultures. He studied political science, law, and psychology at the University of Passau and at Eastern Illinois University, and earned his PhD (summa cum laude) in 2004 with a dissertation on right- and left-wing populism. He is currently Associate Professor of International Relations at MODUL University Vienna and an Affiliated Researcher at ACIPSS (Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies). Hartleb has also worked as a Research Fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies and publishes widely for academic and policy audiences, including the Springer book Lone Wolves: The New Terrorism of Right-Wing Single Actors.

My research examines contemporary extremism and terrorism as communicative, increasingly digital phenomena. I focus on right-wing political violence and lone-actor attacks, tracing how perpetrators ?plug into? transnational ideological milieus?white supremacy, conspiracism, identitarian currents, and incel subcultures?and how online infrastructures (imageboards, encrypted channels, and gaming-related platforms) shape radicalization, mobilization, and imitation. Methodologically, I combine comparative case reconstruction with qualitative document analysis of perpetrator texts (manifestos, videos, livestreams), online traces, and official materials such as court records and investigative files, triangulated with scholarly literature and vetted media investigations. A central aim is to specify mechanisms of mutual inspiration?how scripts, symbols, and formats circulate, lower thresholds for violence, and generate reputational incentives?while avoiding reductionist explanations centered so

• Associate Professor 2025/09/01-

• Fall 2026/27 Fundamentals of Social Sciences
• Fall 2026/27 Fundamentals of Political Theory
• Spring 2026 Comparative Regionalism and EU Law