Dear Colleague,

Approximately five weeks ago--in the course of a Zoom conversation with Professor Roger Griffin--he suggested I initiate and develop a "Consortium/Think-Tank" to gather a group of scholars together to investigate and explore violent political extremism. He suggested I contact the most insightful and established academics to explore the psychodynamics of political violence and extremism. This term suggests "terrorism," but I also include war and genocide as forms of political extremism--albeit they are taken for granted as normative dimension of society.

I searched my database of nearly 8000 contacts that I've been reaching through the Library of Social Science Newsletter, 2000 of which open (and hopefully read) my Newsletters on a regular basis. I especially focused on those scholars who had contributed with essays and papers that we published through the Newsletters. A partial list of these authors is here.

Of course, I have my own opinions as to who are the most important scholars writing on these topics. Some of them I have interacted with via email.

I sent invitations out to the scholars I most wanted to interact with. You are one of them. The response was thrilling. Please scroll down the list for the names of the people who wrote back to me--agreeing to participate.

I have interacted with colleagues, but infrequently. I've written 2500 Newsletters over the past six years and and its surprising that I don't often hear back from them in response to what I've written--even though my iContact mailing system provides statistics and allows me to see that some of the great scholars who receive the Newsletter open many of them ten, fifteen even thirty times. This has given me satisfaction--to know people are reading my Newsletters--and are aware of my sometime radical theories. 

So my first objective in initiating this consortium/think-tank is to initiate interaction and dialogue among some of the greatest scholars in the world (please forgive my use of the term "greatest").

I'm sure many of you work in isolation as I do. Although I've begun to notice that most of you teach classes--and therefore receive feedback from your students.

I've been out of the academic world for forty years (quitting my job as Assistant Professor of Behavior Science--no place for a scholar of Nazism in that department), although I frequently spoke at professional conferences and dialogued with colleagues when my company created book exhibits). 

I feel as if I'm in a rocketship at the moment of leaving the earth, requiring a great deal of energy to break the earth's gravitational pull. However, I do think it's possible to escape the gravitational pull--and to soar into a space of freedom. 

I envisage a series of steps as follows:

(1) Email exchanges and Zoom meetings with members of the group to receive your own insights, input and ideas, specifically feedback on your own concerns--and issues you would like to pursue. 

(2) At a certain point--once things have solidified--we will set up a group meeting via Zoom.

(3) At some point, we will begin connecting with academic, religious, commercial or government institutions to seek "funding by benefactors with humanistic ideals" (this is Roger Griffin's phrase).

(4) Some of you who participate--and are more connected with the institutional world than I am--I'm certain will have ideas on how to proceed with the project of seeking funding.

However, in any case, the scholarly dialogue will go on as it has in the past. I have the resource of my iContact mailing system--that reaches more people in a day that most scholarly journals (and scholarly books) reach in five years. I've written enough (2400 Newsletters over the past six years), although I won't stop writing entirely, just less frequently than I have in the past.

I will make space and give special consideration to the members of this consortium in terms of promoting your books--and publishing essays containing ideas that you wish to convey to the world.

I've said this many times, but it's important to be clear about the scholarly revolution that is ongoing. Digital publication is monumentally inexpensive (like a feather, Roger Griffin said)--and therefore its potential to impact on the real world is tremendously powerful 

I published my last book in 2009, Nations have the right to Kill: Hitler, the Holocaust and War. It received wonderful reviews (click link to read them) and also went into four printings.

However, at the present moment, The Library of Social Science Newsletter has proven to be the best way to reach the people I want to reach--who have the courage to pursue disturbing ideas. Some of you are on the list below--in fact, you are on the list below because I've read your own writings--and therefore know something about how you think (and therefore who you are).

So...the rocketship is about to take off...and I'm sure it will be an exciting trip. I thank you so much for accepting my invitation, and I especially thank Roger Griffin for encouraging and supporting this vehicle for beginning to leave my cocoon and enter into the "real world" (although I don't want too much of the real world--because the real world...isn't real anymore).

Best regards,

Richard Koenigsberg

PS: the list below does not consist of formal "signatures" or formal write-ups about you. What is below will suffice for the time being so everyone knows who is going to be involved.

And I might add you can click through any of the links to get a sense of who the other people are, what they've written, what they are doing, etc. I found it fascinating to realize that the people whose books I've been reading...are actually real people (and so am I). THE LIST OF CONSORTIUM MEMBERS IS DIRECTLY BELOW.
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MEMBERS OF THE CONSORTIUM/THINK-TANK
ON VIOLENT POLITICAL EXTREMISM  
(war, genocide, terrorism)