Since 1990 Rudolf Witzel had been an employee at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, where he established and supervised the research documentation. His responsibilities included especially the gathering of publications on American foreign policy and the theory of International Relations and collecting them in the data base “World Affairs Online” of the “German Information Network International Relations and Area Studies”.
Before he joined PRIF, Rudolf Witzel worked as an assistant to Professor Ernst-Otto Czempiel at Goethe University Frankfurt and at the Center for North American Studies. He completed his studies with a dissertation in political science dealing with the topic of “Armament control policy and power conception in the United States of America : the internal American controversy about external security 1968-1976”. This published work was an outgrowth of a large-scale research project on the US foreign-policy decision making process and up to today provides a benchmark for the research of societal participation and opportunities to influence in the USA.
Rudolf Witzel was not only a profound expert on the USA, but also a committed discussant over many years, whose critical comments helped to bring many of the institute’s publications to fruition.
With Mr Witzel's sudden passing PRIF loses an extraordinarily reliable and experienced employee. We mourn for him.
The PRIF Executive Board
Research Department V