Uwe Backes (born 2 February 1960 in Greimerath) is a German political scientist and specialist in political extremism.
He is a professor at the Technical University Dresden and together with Eckhard Jesse the editor of the Yearbook on Extremism and Democracy [de] and Series on Extremism and Democracy [de].
Backes is an adherent of the classical German theory of extremism (Extremismustheorie[1]) that postulates that the extreme right and the extreme left have much in common in their opposition to liberty and democracy.