Christoph Butterwegge

Christoph Butterwegge (born 26 January 1951) is a German political scientist and poverty researcher. From 1998 to 2016 he was Professor of Political Science at the Institute for Comparative Education and Social Sciences at the Humanities Faculty of the University of Cologne and is a member of the Research Center for Intercultural Studies (FiSt).

Long active in political circles, Butterwegge was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1970 to 1975 and again from 1987 to 2005. After leaving the SPD, he has openly praised Die Linke but has never joined the party. On 21 November 2016, Die Linke nominated him as a candidate in the 2017 federal presidential election. Butterwegge received 128 votes on 12 February 2017, coming in second place to former Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the SPD.