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Tag Archives: political science
Party government: All we want for Christmas is you…?
At an eye-watering £75 Hans Keman and Ferdinand Müller-Rommel’s new Party Government in the New Europe which came out earlier this year with Routledge is unlikely to have made it to under many people’s Christmas trees this year. It does, … Continue reading
Left with questions
I’m at conference on the Future of the Left in Central Europe in Prague co-organised by CESTA, one of the Czech Republic’s few centre-left thinktanks, and the German SPD’s Ebert Foundation, having been to an academic workshop on a similar … Continue reading
Posted in Hungary, left-wing politics, political parties, Czech Republic
Tagged Czech Republic, political science, Poland, hungary, slovakia, political parties, social democracy, left, Visgrad, CESTA, FES, Smer, CSSD, LMP
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Uncorking democracy
Like a good wine or an old cheese, comparative research on democratisation is often described as a ‘mature’ academic literature and, as such, one that can lay claim to have accumulated some real knowledge about one of the central trends … Continue reading
Posted in Book review, Democracy
Tagged books, democracy, democratisation, political science
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God save the Queen – and the EU governance regime
How do you celebrate the Jubilee? Given the choice between watching Prince Charles on TV, mowing the grass or reviewing a book about Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union, I knew what I would go for. There is … Continue reading
“Can you recommend a good book on Czech politics?”
No trouble. I’m always happy to help people working on CEE politics, especially our former research students. And forecasting and analysis for real world organisations concerned with political risk is always an interesting challenge. But then I rather hesitate. Trouble … Continue reading
Reykjavík diary
The decision of the European Consortium for Political Research to stage its biennial (soon to annual) General Conference in Reykjavík has resulted in one of the biggest such events ever, with some 2000 political scientists temporarily boosting the Icelandic capital’s … Continue reading
Posted in academia, Democracy, economic crisis, Iceland, political parties, political science
Tagged ECPR, Iceland, parties, political science, Reykjavik
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Area studies in the dock again?
In the early-mid 1990s - along with a chain of momentous social and political consequences- the fall of communism also triggered soul searching and crises in the academic world among specialists on Soviet and East European politics: Why, with the … Continue reading
Posted in academia, Arab Spring, Area studies, communism and post-communism
Tagged Arab Spring, area studies, communism, democracy, political science, universities, ussr
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Tweeting 1848?
Having had a few very interesting conversations about the historical turn in political science with students in my Comparative Methods class and also used the Arab Spring as an example issue for research design, I was interested to pick up … Continue reading
Posted in Book review, Uncategorized
Tagged books, history, political science, revolution, technology
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CEE parties: Gardeners’ World or Jurassic park?
A slow train wends it way through the tower blocks of South London to get me to plusher territory near Runnymede, where Birmingham University’s Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) is holding its annual research conference. As ever … Continue reading
