Hans-Joachim Veen is a German political scientist who since 1994 works as honorary professor at the University of Trier

University of Trier

The University of Trier , in the German city of Trier, was founded in 1473. Closed in 1798 by order of the then French administration in Trier, the university was re-established in 1970 after a hiatus of some 172 years. The new university campus is located on top of the Tarforst heights, an urban...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Biography

Before his studies, he served as a soldier with Reconnaissance Battalion 3 at Lüneburg

Lüneburg

Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...

 for two years. He is bearing the rank of a full colonel (res.) and served as commander of Tank Battalion 524 in Lingen. His last reserve training he served as chief of staff German armed forces command USA and Canada in Reston/Virginia.

He then studied political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

, public law

Public law

Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...

 and history at the University of Hamburg

University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

 and the Albert Ludwig University

University of Freiburg

The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...

 in Freiburg

Freiburg

Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...

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In 1975/1976 he worked as scientific assistant at the chair of Wilhelm Hennis at the University of Freiburg and received his Ph.D. in 1976.

From 1983 to 1999 he worked as Director of research at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation

Konrad Adenauer Foundation

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is a German political party foundation associated with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union . The foundation's headquarters are located in Saint Augustine and Berlin. Globally, the KAS has 78 offices and runs programs in over 100 countries...

 and earned himself a reputation in the fields of research on elections and political parties and scientific political consulting. Since 2000 he has been head of the project "Democracy and political party development in eastern Europe" within the foundation. With this project he has opened the way for a systematic support of political parties in young democracies through the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. Today he is still active in this field.

In 1994/95 he served as an interim professor for comparative government studies at the University of Trier

Trier

Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....

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Since 2002 Veen is chairman of the board

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 of the Stiftung Ettersberg

Stiftung Ettersberg

The Stiftung Ettersberg is a foundation under civic law, located in Weimar . The foundation is dedicated to the comparative study of European dictatorships and their democratic transition.- History :...

 (Ettersberg-foundation) in Weimar. The foundation is dedicated to the comparative study of European dictatorships and their democratic transition.

From 2007 to 2009 Hans-Joachim Veen also serves as a head of the Thuringian governmental committee for violence prevention. Furthermore, he is a member of the scientific council with the federal commissioner for the documents of the state security service of the former German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

(BStU), he was elected head of the council on January 7, 2008.
Since 2009 he is moderating the History Network Thüringen, a committee dealing with coming to terms with the SED dictatorship.

In 1993 he was awarded the Bundesverdientskreuz because of his merits with regard to the development of the political, economical and historical sciences at the universities of the newly formed German states through a multi-year program for visiting professors which Veen initiated and organized.