Welcome to this seven-day intensive Schools organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). This School, organized with the collaboration of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, the University of Nottingham-Malaysia and the Research Centre for the Study of Parties and Democracy: REPRESENT (University of Nottingham-UK) brings together an international team of 22 leading scholars and practitioners to train and instruct a group of 14 MA/PhD researchers and practitioners and civil society leaders in the field of political parties and democracy.
The main aims of the School include to:
- to provide instruction and discussion on a wider range of analytical perspectives in the study of political parties, party systems, elections and democracy;
- to develop a multinational forum for both junior scholars and practitioners to critically discuss their research projects and the development of the subfield;
- to assist PhD/MA researchers to develop their dissertation projects at the cutting edge of the field, contributing to innovation in conceptualisation, measurement, analysis and theory;
- to prepare PhD/MA researchers for the requirements and criteria of international academic publishing, and to encourage them to submit their work to academic journals;
- to help practitioners to understand the main academic findings regarding party politics and democracy promotion;
- to build on the most recent developments and challenges of political party development and democracy promotion presented by the “Global Agenda for the Renewal of Representation” (https://representresearch.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/the-renewal-of-representaion-v3.pdf)
- to stimulate international collaboration in the field of parties, party systems, elections and democracy and to encourage PhD/MA researchers and practitioners to take part in such collaboration.
Directors
Fernando Casal Bértoa is an Associate Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). He is member of the OSCE/ODIHR “Core Group of Political Party Experts”. He is also co-director of REPRESENT: Research Centre for the Study of Parties and Democracy. His work has been published in Journal of Politics, European Journal of Political Research, Sociological Methods and Research, Electoral Studies, West European Politics, Party Politics, Democratization, European Political Science Review, among others. He was awarded the 2017 Gordon Smith and Vincent Wright Memorial Prize, the 2017 AECPA Prize for the Best Article and the 2018 Vice-Chancellor Medal of the University of Nottingham for “exceptional achievements”. His last book, titled Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives and Democracy in Europe, is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
Andreas Michaeel Klein has more than 20 years of working experience for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) since February 2000 as director of the newly established country office in Skopje/Macedonia (2000-04), as desk officer at the Department for International Cooperation in Berlin/Germany (2004-06) as well as director of the KAS’ offices in Dusseldorf/Germany (2006/07), Riga/Latvia (2007-12), Hamburg/Germany (2012-16) and Santiago de Chile (2016-22). Since April 2022, Andreas is the Director of KAS’ Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia. He has studied Political Science, Modern History and Spanish at the University of Bonn/Germany (1993-1999), of which he holds a MA degree in Political Science, and Intercultural Communication at the University of Jyväskylä/Finland.
Rey Padit is the Programme Manager for Political Co-operation under the Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia. He is mainly responsible in managing three portfolios namely, the Konrad Adenauer School for Young Politicians (KASYP), the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Young Political Leaders Caucus (KASYP-LC), and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Election Bridge Asia – Pacific. Before joining the Foundation, he was part of the KASYP, KASYP-LC, KAS Election Bridge Asia-Pacific, and the KAS International Summer School Programmes. Through these trainings, he co-founded a national political party and won a campaign for elected positions in the Philippines. Apart from politics, he is also experienced in disaster risk reduction management, local governance, development work, and the academe. He holds a Master in Public Policy degree from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of San Carlos, Cebu City Philippines.