Philippe Schmitter will be visiting the department on May 13th and 14th to lead a master class and also give a talk as part of the departmental seminar series.

Philippe Schmitter is Professor Emeritus at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy. He was a member of the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences from 1996 to 2004, having spent ten years as a faculty member at Stanford University and fifteen years at the University of Chicago.

Schmitter has conducted research on comparative politics and regional integration in both Latin America and Western Europe, with special emphasis on the politics of organized interests. With Gerhard Lehmbruch, he edited Trends toward Corporatist Intermediation and Patterns of Corporatist Policy-Making. He is the co-author (with Guillermo O’Donnell) of Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy (4 vols.) and is currently completing a book on Essaying the Consolidation of Democracy. In recent years, he has devoted increasing attention to the emerging polity of the European Union, first in a co-authored book on Governance in the European Union (with Gary Marks, Fritz Scharpf and Wolfgang Streeck) and later in a book entitled: How to Democratize the European Union ....and Why Bother? With Alexandre Trechsel, he has written a Green Paper for the Council of Europe on The Future of Democracy in Europe.

Schmitter has been the recipient of numerous professional awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim in 1978. He was also a vice-president of the American Political Science Association. He received the award for lifetime achievement in European politics by the ECPR in 2008, the award for lifetime achievement in the study of European integration by EUSA, the Mattei Dogan Prize of the IPSA, and the Johan Skytte Prize by Uppsala University – all in 2009.

Philippe Schmitter’s Departmental Seminar, entitled “Thoughts on the Future of 'Real-Existing' Democracy,” will be taking place on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 from 12 pm – 1.30 pm in S0.19, Social Sciences. Light sandwiches will be served from 11.30 am in the foyer outside of the seminar room. All welcome.

For further information on the master class, open to PAIS MA, Ph.D. Students, and post-docs on a first come first serve basis, please see this webpage.