Field of work
Lars Erik Berntzen is Associate Professor in Political Science and Sociology at HVL (2023-). Prior to this he worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen (2019-2023) and Researcher at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo (2017-19), now affiliate researcher.
Berntzen's research sits at the intersection of political science, sociology and psychology and deals with topics such as:
- Peoples' attitudes to political violence and perpetrators of violence.
- Affective polarization and its potential consequences for democracy and how citizens view and engage with one another (social segregation, intolerance, pro-violence).
- The emergence and growth of the anti-Islamic far right from the turn of the century and onwards; scale, causes and consequences.
- Extreme right terrorism and adjacent phenomena such as school shootings with a particular emphasis on the July 22, 2011 case.
- Consequences of conflict among political elites for citizens beliefs and preferences.
Education
2013-2018 PhD in Political and Social Science, Faculty of Political and Social Science, European University Institute, Italy
2015 Exchange, Faculty of Social Science, Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway
2013-2014 Master of Research (M.Res), Faculty of Political and Social Science, European University Institute, Italy
2009-2011 Master in Sociology, Faculty of Social Science, Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway
2008 Exchange, Social Sciences Division, Department of Sociology, U.C Berkeley, USA
2006-2009 Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway
Politikk og Røvere, social science podcast in collaboration with Jonas Bergan Dræge (Norwegian):
Available where you listen to podcasts - https://soundcloud.com/user-121156373
COMPETE: https://www.hvl.no/en/research/group/compete/