American political scientist and professor (born 1938)
Michael Barkun
Barkun in 2009
Born
(1938-04-08) April 8, 1938 (age 86)
Nationality
American
Education
Ph.D., political science
Alma mater
Northwestern University[1]
Occupation
Political scientist
Employer(s)
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
Known for
Study of political extremism, religion and violence, millenarian and utopian movements.
Website
Faculty webpage
Michael Barkun (born April 8, 1938) is an American academic who serves as Professor Emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, specializing in political and religious extremism and the relationship between religion and violence. He has authored a number of books on the subject, including Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement (1996), A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (2003), and Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland Security Since 9/11 (2011).[1]
Barkun has acted as a consultant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation; as a member of the Special Advisory Commission to the FBI Critical Incident Response Group from late 1995 to early 1996, he provided training and background presentations on extremist groups.[2] He serves on the editorial boards of Terrorism and Political Violence and Nova Religio, and was the editor of Communal Societies from 1987 to 1994. He edits the Religion and Politics book series for the Syracuse University Press. He won the 2003 Distinguished Scholar award from the Communal Studies Association, and the Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights for his book Religion and the Racist Right.
Barkun focuses particularly on millenarian and utopian movements, terrorism and "doomsday weapons", and the contemporary influence of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion decades after it was exposed as a hoax.[3] His books have been reviewed by The New York Times,[4]The New York Sun,[5]The Montana Professor,[6] and Terrorism and Political Violence.[7] In a 2004 review, historian Paul S. Boyer wrote that Barkun "knows his way around the arcane world of contemporary conspiracy theorists" more "than any other scholar in America".[8]
^ ab"Michael Barkun faculty listing". Maxwell School of Syracuse University. March 17, 2009. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
^Barkun, Michael (2002). "Project Megiddo, the FBI, and the Academic Community". In Kaplan, Jeffrey (ed.). Millennial Violence: Past, Present and Future. Routledge. pp. 100, 103. ISBN 9781135316266. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
^Berlet, Chip (September 2004). "Interview: Michael Barkun". New Internationalist. Political Research Associates. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
^McLemee, Scott (November 6, 1994). "Aryan and Proud". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
^Pipes, Daniel (January 13, 2004). "Old Conspiracies, New Beliefs". The New York Sun. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
^Pratt, Ray (Spring 2005). "Review of A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America". The Montana Professor. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
^Daschkea, Dereck (2006). "A Review of A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America". Terrorism and Political Violence. 18 (4): 608–609. doi:10.1080/09546550601000322. S2CID 147339483.
^Boyer, Paul S. (July 27, 2004). "The Strange World of Conspiracy Theories". The Christian Century. pp. 32–35. Archived from the original on March 10, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
MichaelBarkun (born April 8, 1938) is an American academic who serves as Professor Emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship...
declaration of war upon the people of America". Political scientist MichaelBarkun characterized it as "among the most complex superconspiracy theories"...
Visions in Contemporary America is a 2003 non-fiction book written by MichaelBarkun, professor emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship...
America. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 3–4. Barkun 2003, p. 7. Barkun, Michael (2011). Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland...
never read such a distortion of facts in my life". Political scientist MichaelBarkun wrote that Cold War underground missile installations in the area gave...
ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 6396711. PMID 30853921. Barkun 2003, p. 3. Berlet, Chip (September 2004). "Interview: MichaelBarkun". Archived from the original on 2 April...
they are interdimensional, coming from another universe or dimension. MichaelBarkun, professor of political science at Syracuse University, posits that...
accusing the CIA of the Kennedy assassination. Scholar of extremism MichaelBarkun notes that "Andrew's political views are almost indistinguishable from...
attacks on two abortion clinics and he also bombed a lesbian nightclub. MichaelBarkun, a professor at Syracuse University, believes that Rudolph likely fits...
Amazon rainforest. In "A Culture of Conspiracy", Political scientist MichaelBarkun draws a distinction between the terms hollow earth and inner earth,...
pagan relics". 13 February 2013. MichaelBarkun Religion and the Racist Right, pp. 192-193, UNC Press 1997 MichaelBarkun A Culture of Conspiracy, p. 210...
him he intended to expose Sapiro. According to political scientist MichaelBarkun, "That Cameron would have continued to publish such controversial material...
S2CID 25341307. Barkun 2003, pp. ix–x. Barkun 2003, pp. xi, 10. Barkun 2003, pp. 26–27. Barkun 2003, p. 88. Barkun 2003, p. 34. Barkun 2003, p. 61. Barkun 2003,...
was further spread by conspiracy groups on the Internet. According to MichaelBarkun, Icke's reliance on the Protocols in The Robots' Rebellion is "the first...
New Mexican. Vol. 139, no. 255. pp. A-1, A-2 – via Newspapers.com. MichaelBarkun (4 May 2006). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary...
2016-03-16. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-11-24. Barkun, Michael; Barkun, Professor of Political Science Michael (2003-11-07). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic...
were overlooking in their analysis of world affairs was "parasitism". MichaelBarkun describes Mullins' 1992 work The World Order: Our Secret Rulers as "a...
swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro." MichaelBarkun observed: "That Cameron would have continued to publish such anti-Semitic...
and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement, MichaelBarkun, 1997, pp 115-119. Rudolph, Kurt (7 April 2008). "MANDAEANS ii. THE...
malevolent entities in caverns deep within the earth." According to MichaelBarkun, Shaver offered inconsistent accounts of how he first learned of the...
Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America, MichaelBarkun (2003) Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse...
67. Kaplan 2000, p. 298. Barkun 1997, p. 69. Barkun 1997, p. 221. Levitas 2002a, p. 3. Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right: the Origins...
swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro." MichaelBarkun observed: That Cameron would have continued to publish such controversial...
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