Cosmos

Lars Erik Berntzen (1986) hails from the city of Bergen on the west coast of Norway. He holds a B.A (2009) and M.A (2011) in Sociology from the University of Bergen (UiB). Under the supervision of Professor Donatella della Porta he is conducting research on anti-Islamic rhetoric and mobilization in Western Europe. The project title is “Anti-Islamic opposition and rhetoric: A political phenomenon from the mainstream to the extreme”.

Between 2011 and 2013, he worked as a research assistant on three projects at the Department of Comparative Politics, UiB: 1) Political demonstrations directed towards the Norwegian state (1965-2012), 2) Political violence in Norway (1945-2012), and 3) Normative conflicts involving the radical right. All three projects entailed gathering data, coding and analysis of newspaper articles as the primary source material. He has also conducted and published research on organized opposition towards Islam, Muslim culture and immigration in Norway as well as the ‘manifesto’ and ideology of the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.

Research interests: Anti-Islam, populism, diffusion, political violence, counter-jihad.