Fourth ECPR-ODIHR Summer School on Political Parties and Democracy

The summer school will bring together an international team of academics and practitioners to train and instruct a group of 18 MA/PhD researchers, practitioners and civil society activists in the field of political parties and democracy.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the format of the school will be “online only”.

Oganisers and sponsors

This event is sponsored by the European Consortium for Political Research and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and supported by the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw and the Centre for the Study of Parties and Democracy.

Aims

The main aims of the summer school include:

• providing instruction and discussion on a wider range of analytical perspectives in the study of political parties, party systems, elections and democracy
• developing a multinational forum for both junior scholars and practitioners to critically discuss their research projects and the development of the subfield
• assisting PhD researchers to develop their dissertation projects, contributing to innovation in conceptualisation, measurement, analysis and theory
• prepareing PhD researchers for the requirements and criteria of international academic publishing, and encouraging them to submit their work to academic journals
• helping practitioners understand the main academic findings regarding party politics and democracy promotion
• building on the most recent developments and challenges of political party development and democracy promotion presented by the Global Agenda for the Renewal of Representation
• stimulating international collaboration in the field of parties and party systems, elections and democracy as well as encouraging PhD researchers and practitioners to take part in such collaboration

Participants

The summer school is open for MA/PhD researchers, practitioners and civil society leaders in the field of political parties, elections, representative democracy and closely related areas (e.g. anti-corruption, gender equality, political participation).

Participants should be from and working on OSCE post-communist member states:

• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• North Macedonia
• Georgia
• Hungary 
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Moldova
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• Serbia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Tajikistan
• Turkmenistan
• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan

The maximum number of participants is 18. Organizers will attempt to achieve both a gender, diversity, and a regional (i.e. Central and South-Eastern European as well as post-Soviet region) balance.

Application

Applications should be submitted electronically by Friday, 30 April 2021 (including this date) to: https://democracyandparties.com/odihr/application-form/. 

They should include a 500-word abstract (and up to 5 keywords) of your proposed paper. No other documents (e.g. CV, passport) will be required at this stage.

If you have any queries, please write to both Fernando.Casal.Bertoa@nottingham.ac.uk and k.grzybowska-walecka@uksw.edu.pl.

A preliminary selection of shortlisted participants will be made by Tuesday, 4 May 2021. This will be conditioned by the final submission of papers by Friday, 4 June 2021. The papers should be a maximum of 8000 words.

The shortlisted participants may also be contacted for a Skype interview before final acceptance. Those participants failing to submit the papers in time will not be able be to participate in the school.

Important to bear in mind: applications by citizens from and/or working on other countries than those mentioned above, incomplete applications (e.g. missing questions, no abstract or keywords) or those submitted after the deadline as well as from those applications who have already obtained (i.e. defended) their PhD will not be considered.

Staff

The teaching staff consists of 15 leading scholars and practitioners in the field of political parties, elections and democracy from leading universities and international organizations.

Teaching format

The summer school comprises an intensive programme of video-lectures and seminars, and presentations with in-depth discussions of participants’ projects.

The working language (both for papers and presentations by participants) will be English only.

The event contains an introductory afternoon and seven teaching days, each organized around a topical research question related to the overall theme. Each day will comprise of two main elements, guest speaker and student. The overall number of class contact hours will be 43 hours.

The first element consists of a pre-recorded presentation by a guest speaker/expert on a specific topic related to the theme of the summer school. This will be followed by a live ZOOM discussion session on the topic.

The second element consists of project presentations by participants (they can be a part of PhD research, in case of PhD students). Each presentation should not surpass 10 minutes. It will be followed by a rigorous discussion (approximately 50 minutes) with all other participants and staff. Each day, up to three participants will present their work. They will also have to act as lead discussant in one of the mornings and afternoon sessions.

Awards

The East European Politics journal will award a prize of €100 to the best paper presented at the summer school (both 2021 winter and summer sessions).

A “Most Valuable Participant” (MVP) diploma will also be awarded to the most active participant. Him or her will be chosen by other participants of the school. The person will also serve as an ambassador of the summer school until the next edition.

Assessment and accreditation

Each participant fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements will receive a certificate of participation.

On special request, PhD researchers' papers may be assessed and credited by staff members. The credits awarded for successful participation and assessment will amount to 6.5 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits. PhD researchers wishing to have their work accredited are advised to consult the directors of the summer school at an early stage.

Online access

It is essential that prospective participants secure good online access for the whole duration of the event.

Fees

There are no fees.

Directors

The summer school is directed by:

• Dr Katarzyna Grzybowska - Walecka (Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Assistant Professor at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Head of the MA Programme on Politics in Cyberspace and editor of the journal Politologia)
• Dr Fernando Casal Bértoa (Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, co-director of REPRESENT, member of the OSCE/ODIHR “Core Group of Political Party Experts”, and co-editor of the Routledge Book Series on Political Parties and Party Systems)