Announcement: 12th Düsseldorf Graduate Conference on Party Research (GraPa) 2021 hosted by the PRuF

On the 26th and 27th of February 2020, the Düsseldorf Graduate Conference on Party Research (GraPa) will take place for the twelfth time. The PRuF would like to invite all PhD candidates in the field of party research and others who are interested in this two-day interdisciplinary conference at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Especially, we welcome party researchers from abroad. Presentations and discussions can be held in English. Please find detailed information in the official invitation. We look forward to applications until 31.10.2020.

Cancellation of the Party Scientific Symposion 2020

Due to the ongoing spread of the corona virus and considering the recommendations for action by Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and Heinrich Heine University (HHU) we have decided to cancel the Party Scientific Symposion on 3rdand 4th April 2020. At the same time, we are trying to find an alternative date. We will inform you as soon as there is any news. We kindly ask for your understanding and are looking forward to welcoming you at a later point at the Party Scientific Symposion in Düsseldorf.

[Translate to English:] Parteienwissenschaftliches Symposion 2020: Kommunikationsformen von Parteien im digitalen Raum

The way parties communicate with their members, voters, and supporters changed rapidly over the past years. Even though the classic media of the old days like election posters or members’ journals didn’t fully disappear, yet. However, they are increasingly supplemented and also replaced by digital media, which in Web 2.0 bring with them the democratic promise of direct participation and interaction, but for this very reason they pose a particular challenge to political parties, which must be measured against democratic standards in their entire organisation and working methods, in internal party communication as well as in public. Can this change in communication even be successful without...

Exhibition opening ‚Populist argumentation: a wooden iron?‘ in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia

Exhibition opening ‚Populist argumentation: a wooden iron?‘ in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia

On March 10th, 2020, Michael Angenendt from Institute for German and International Party Law and Party Research (PRuF) and Julian Pöhling from Institute for Philosophy of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf opened the exhibition ‚Populist argumentation: a wooden iron? Philosophic and political science perspectives‘. The exhibition represents the completion of the eponymous teaching/research project in winter semester 2019/20. The project is linked to the degree program Philosophy, Politics and Economics and is financially supported by Heinrich Heine University. It is...

The current edition of Zeitschrift für Parteienwissenschaften (MIP) is now also available online

The current edition of Zeitschrift für Parteienwissenschaften (MIP) is now also available online and can be accessed here.

Since the journal was published for the first time back in 1991 it was, as well as the PRuF itself, continuingly developed. The journal which interdisciplinarily deals with the latest and most important topics of party research and party law will be published biannually from 2019 onwards. You’ll find interesting texts worth reading in the latest edition as well as in older editions.

We would like to thank our authors and of course our readers.

PRuF, December 2019

Prof Poguntke delivers guest lectures at Nihon University Tokyo

PRuF director Thomas Poguntke visited Nihon University, Tokyo, in October and delivered three guest lectures on contemporary aspects of German and comparative research on political parties. Highlight of the 12-day visit was the keynote address entitled „Leader politics or party politics: the presidentialization of politics around the globe“ at a symposium organized by Professor Masahiro Iwasaki on “Parliamentary democracy at the crossroads“.

Professor Iwasaki has edited the 2014 Japanese edition of the book „The Presidentialization of Politics in Modern Democracies“ edited by Thomas Poguntke and Paul Webb. It is intended to deepen the cooperation with colleagues at Nihon University...

DFG-Project “Who do parties select as their electoral leaders and why?”

Dr. Gregor Zons has attracted funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the amount of 334.415 € for his project “Who do parties select as their electoral leaders and why?”. The project investigates, first, whether electoral leaders for parliamentary elections hold any other leadership positions at the same time and, secondly, the party careers of electoral leaders. The project will start in early 2019 and will last for 3 years.

Political Party Database Project. Successful Launch Conference of Database and new Book

On May 4th the Political Party Database Project successfully launched its database introducing to the public party organizational data for free usage from 19 countries and 122 parties. The conference was held in the Haus der Universität in Düsseldorf and welcomed 90 national and international guests: party researchers, fellow political scientists, practitioners and students discussed for one day what impact the project has and will continue to have. The project leaders Prof. Thomas Poguntke (Heinrich Heine University), Prof. Susan E. Scarrow (University of Houston, Texas, US), and Prof. Paul D. Webb (University of Sussex, Brighton, UK), who introduced the project and presented main...