The aim of the Austrian Fund for the documentation of religiously motivated political extremism (Documentation Centre Political Islam) is the scientific analysis of the phenomenon of religiously motivated political extremism, focusing on Political Islam, associated networks as well as formal and informal structures.
Political Islam, as defined by the Documentation Centre and its scientific advisory board, is an ideology of supremacy that aims at influencing or changing society, culture, state, policy, politics and/or polity according to such values and norms that are declared as Islamic by the actors of Political Islam, but are not shared by the majority of Muslims and are in clear contradiction to the rule of law, democracy and human rights.
The Documentation Centre conducts research and informs the broader public about its research results in order to strengthen pluralism, democratic awareness and freedom of religion all over Austria. To this end, the Documentation Centre publishes its research results on its website. Within the science-to-public approach the Documentation Centre started the the video format Expert Talk where experts and researchers present their findings.
Political Islam, as defined by the Documentation Centre, is an ideology of supremacy that aims at influencing or changing society, culture, state, politics and/or polity according to such values and norms that are regarded as Islamic by the actors of Political Islam, but are in clear contradiction to the rule of law, democracy and human rights.
The Documentation Centre pledges to adhere to the generally acknowledged standards and methods of scientific work. Amongst others the Documentation Centre ensures:
Since its foundation in 2020, the qualitative standards of the Documentation Centre are ensured by an internal quality assurance in the key areas of research, documentation and information.
Mouhanad Khorchide is Professor for Islamic religious pedagogic at the Centre for religious studies (CRS) and Director of the Centre for Islamic Theology (ZIT) at the University of Münster, Germany.
Handan Aksünger-Kizil is Professor for Alevite Studies and Deputy Head of Department at the Department of Islamic-Theological Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Kenan Güngör, sociologist, German-speaking European with Kurdish-Turkish roots. Founder and owner of [think.difference], the office for society, organization and development in Vienna. He works as a consultant and international expert on integration issues and diversity, was a visiting professor at the University of Vienna and has worked as a strategic advisor for the city of Vienna for many years. He is also a member of an independent think tank of the Austrian government on integration, as well as the chairman of the Expert_Forum for “prevention, deradicalization and democratic culture” of the city of Vienna.
Heiko Heinisch is a historian and author with expertise on antisemitism, and Islamism. He has worked amongst others for the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute in Vienna and the Institute for Islamic Studies at the University of Vienna.
Herbert Kalb is law professor for legal history and (state)church law at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria.
Elham Manea is teaching at the University of Zurich, Switzerland and is advocating for a humanistic Islam. Since 2005 she also advises national and international organisations in the areas of women's rights, politics and development.
Katharina Pabel is law professor for public law, economics law and international law, and deputy head of department at the Economic University Vienna, Austria. She is chair of the experts council for integration and ad-hoc judge for the ECHR.
Mathias Rohe is director of the Centre for Islam and Law in Erlangen. He is a law and islamic studies professor at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He is an ordinary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and was inter alia judge at the Higher Court Nürnberg and member of the first German Islam Conference (2006 to 2009).
Susanne Schröter is founder and director of the Frankfurt Research Center on Global Islam, principal investigator at the Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders" and professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Goethe University Frankfurt. She is inter alia a member of the executive boards of the German Orient Institute and serves in the scientific advisory council of the Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft (Institute für Democracy and Civil Society).
Dr. Lorenzo Vidino is the Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. He has been studying the Muslim Brotherhood in the West for the last 20 years. His latest book on the subject is The Closed Circle: Joining and Leaving the Muslim Brotherhood in the West (Columbia University Press, 2020), which has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.