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Research interests

An overarching meta-theoretical continuity spanning the members of the SPS Department’s research is our interest in the interplay of institutional dynamics with micro behavior. Whereas the long-term traditional focus of the department was on macro-institutional structures, such as party systems, institutions of interest-intermediation, welfare state regimes and class structures, our current research conceptualizes institutions dynamically by studying the interactions between institutions – both formal and informal - and their behavioural context. This applies to the analysis of the impact of party competition on public policies, changing family structures and their consequences for inequalities, changing norms of governance and conflict and their implications for political and geo-political dominance.

Some key publications:

  • Checkel, J. T., “Process Tracing and International Political Economy”, in Jon Pevehouse and Leonard Seabrooke (Editors), The Oxford Handbook of International Political Economy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198793519.013.47.

  • Dinas, E., Martínez, S., and Valentim, V., “Social Norm Change, Political Symbols, and Expression of Stigmatized Preferences”, The Journal of Politics (Forthcoming - Available at SSRN), 2022, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3516831.

  • Schelkle, W., Kriesi, H. & Ferrera, M, “Maintaining the EU’s compound polity during the long crisis decade”, Journal of European Public Policy, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2165698.

  • Golden, M., Nazrullaeva, E., “The puzzle of clientelism : political discretion and elections around the world”, Elements in Political Economy, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2023, https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75316.

  • Härkönen, J., Hogendoorn, B., “Single motherhood and multigenerational coresidence in Europe”, Population and Development Review, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12540.

  • Hemerijck, A., “Social investment as a policy paradigm”, Journal of European Public Policy, 25(6): 810-827, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1401111.

  • Hix, S., Benedetto, G., Mastrorocco, N., “The Rise and Fall of Social Democracy, 1918-2017”, American Political Science Review, 114(3): 928-939, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000234.

  • Hofmann, S. C., Martill, B., “The Party Scene: New Directions for Political Party Research in Foreign Policy Analysis”, International Affairs, 97(2): 305-322, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiaa165.

  • Immergut, E. M., Schneider, S. M., “Is it unfair for the affluent to be able to purchase 'better' healthcare? : existential standards and institutional norms in healthcare attitudes across 28 countries”, Social science & medicine, Vol. 267, 2020, Online Only, https://hdl.handle.net/1814/67712.

  • Kostelka, F., Blais. A., “The Generational and Institutional Sources of the Global Decline in Voter Turnout”, World Politics, Cambridge University Press, 73(4): 629-67, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887121000149.

  • Van de Rijt, A., “Self-Correcting Dynamics in Social Influence Processes”, American Journal of Sociology, 124(5): 1468-1495, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1086/702899.

  • van de Werfhorst, H. G., “Sorting or Mixing? Multi-Track and Single-Track Schools and Social Inequalities in a Differentiated Educational System”, British Educational Research Journal, 47(5): 1209-1236, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3722.

Research Themes:

Inequality & social demography

Trends and patterns of educational, labour market and health inequalities by social class, gender and ethnicity; social mobility; cumulative and compensatory advantage; family change and family dynamics; life course research.

Analytical sociology

Micro foundations of social life: trust; conflict & cooperation; collective action; norms; status, and social networks – and how they explain employment, gender differences, development, crime, corruption, informal economy, migration, ethnic conflict, movements, science practices.

Welfare state and political economy

Impact on welfare states of globalization, deepening EU market integration and financialization; Changing life-course risks; Dynamics and consequences of fiscal and regulatory competition; Diversity of European political economies and their capacity for adaptation to post-crisis challenges; the EU’s perma- and poly-crisis.

Comparative politics and political behaviour

Trends and patterns in institutional design (also historical); electoral and party competition, electoral behavior, the rise of populism and authoritarianism; political protest, contentious politics, political events; policy responsiveness.

IR and security

International relations theory; humanitarian intervention; civil wars; comparative foreign policy; international and European security; Europe’s external relations and “Europe in the world”.

Political Economy of Development

How political institutions change with economic development; politics and policy issues in developing nations; interactions of politicians and voters in developing nations; differences between developing and developed countries.

Page last updated on 06/03/2023