Schmidtke, Oliver
Dr. Oliver Schmidtke is Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Victoria. He is former Director of the Centre for Global Studies and former Jean Monnet Chair in European History and Politics. In 2026, he received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, one of Germany’s highest distinctions for internationally recognized scholars.
He received his PhD from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and, before joining the University of Victoria in 1999, held appointments at Humboldt University Berlin and Harvard University. He has also been a Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the EUI, a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Hamburg, and a research fellow at the University of Bonn.
His research focuses on democracy, populism, migration, memory politics, and European integration from comparative and transatlantic perspectives. He currently co-leads the SSHRC Partnership Development Grant Mnemonic Democracy: Collective Memory, Civic Education, and Democratic Engagement and leads an SSHRC Insight Development Grant on regional separatism in Canada. Dr. Schmidtke is the author or editor of fourteen books and has published more than eighty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He has played a leading role in advancing European Studies in Canada through his leadership of national and international research networks.
Research Interests: Immigration and citizenship, Identity politics, and Comparative European politics
Listing Details
| Institution: | University of Victoria |
| Fields of Expertise: | EU Institutions EU Multi-level Governance EU Policies Memory Politics Migration Nationalism and Extremism Populism Social Movements and Political Mobilization |
| Research groups: | Democracy/Populism/Nationalism,Memory Politics,Migration/Citizenship/Borders,RG ECSA-C Democracy,RG ECSA-C Migration,The ECSA-C members |
| Email: | ofs@uvic.ca |
| Media outreach: | Yes |
| Languages: | English, French, German, Italian |
| Publications: | Mat, F.; Chiodi, L.; Schmidtke, O. "Europeanization as Pragmatic Politics: Italy’s Civil Society Actors Operating in the Face of Right-Wing Populism", Social Sciences. 13, 205, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040205 Schmidtke, O., "Migration as a building bloc of middle-class nation-building? The growing rift between Germany’s centre-right and right-wing parties", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 50:7, 1677-1695, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2315350 Bodnár, E., Webber, J., and O. Schmidtke, O. "Populism, Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Central and Eastern Europe" (Introduction to special issue). Hague Journal on the Rule of Law. in press, summer 2024. Webber, J., Schmidtke, O. and E Bodnár. Introduction: Democratic Constitutionalism in a Populist Age (Introduction to special issue). Social & Legal Studies, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639231198649 Mobilizing History: European Integration and its Legitimizing Narrative. Special issue: Journal of European Integration History (Oliver and Birte Wassenberg), summer 2023: https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0947-9511-2023-1/jeih-journal-of-european-integration-history-jahrgang-29-2023-heft-1. Reimagining Political Identity and Ideology in Europe: Memory Politics and the Resurgence of Nationalism and Right-Wing Populism; special issue of Social Sciences (Oliver Schmidtke), fall 2023: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci/special_issues/A231NZBEKD. Schmidtke, O. and James, M. The Legacy of Canada's Residential School System. Addressing Past Injustices from a Canadian-German Perspective. Report for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, 2022 (64 pages) available in English and German at: https://www.kas.de/en/web/canada/publications/single-titles/-/content/the-legacy-of-canada-s-residential-school-system |
