Organised under the auspices of the Standing Group on Central East European Politics and with the support of the Standing Group on Political Parties of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), the School will bring together an international team of academics and practitioners to train and instruct a group of 20 MA/PhD researchers, practitioners and civil society leaders in the field of political parties and democracy.

The School is sponsored by the ECPR, ODIHR, the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw and the Centre for the Study of Parties and Democracy.

Aims

The main aims of the School include:

• 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 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 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://www.osce.org/odihr/395219);
• to stimulate international collaboration in the field of parties, party systems, elections and democracy and to encourage PhD researchers and practitioners to take part in such collaboration.

Participants

The 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. corruption) from and working on OSCE participating States such as Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, North Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The maximum number of participants is 20. Organizers will attempt to achieve both a gender and a regional (i.e. Central and South-Eastern European as well as post-Soviet region) balance.

Your application should be appropriately filled in (please do answer all the questions!) and submitted to BOTH [email protected] AND [email protected] by Friday 29 November 2019 (inclusively), containing a 500-word abstract (and up to 5 keywords) of your proposed paper. No other documents (e.g. CV, passport) are needed at this stage.

Shortlisted participants will have to send the first paper drafts by 3 January. Then the final selection of participants will be made. Shortlisted participants might also be contacted for a skype interview before final acceptance.

VERY IMPORTANT: Applications by citizens from and/or working in other countries, those incomplete (e.g. missing answers to questions, abstract or keywords) or submitted after the deadline, as well as from those who have already obtained their PhD will not be considered.

Staff

The teaching staff consists of 10 leading scholars and practitioners in the field of parties and democracy from European and American universities and international organizations.

Teaching format

The School comprises an intensive programme of lectures, seminars and roundtables by leading scholars and practitioners in the field, and presentations with in-depth discussions of participants’ projects. The teaching language will be English. The School consists of seven teaching days, each of them organised around a topical research question related to the overall theme of the School. Each day will comprise two main elements, each of them scheduled to last three and a half hours. The overall number of class contact hours will thus be 50.

The first element consists of a presentation by a teaching staff member on a specific topic related to the theme of the School. This will be followed by a question-and-answer session. The second element consists of presentations by participants of their projects (which may, but do not have to be part of their PhD research). Each of these presentations, which should be no longer than 15 minutes, will be followed by rigorous discussion (approximately 30 minutes) with all other participants and experts. Up to three participants will present their work per day.

The best papers will be recommended for publication in the journal Politologia (see guidelines). The East European Politics journal will award a prize of €100 to the best paper presented at the 2020 School (both the Winter and Summer Sessions).

VERY IMPORTANT: English is the only working language, both for papers and presentations.

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 the School’s teaching staff. The credits awarded for successful participation and assessment will be 6.5 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits. PhD researchers wishing to have their work accredited are advised to consult the directors of the School at an early stage.

Accommodation

All participants of the School will be accommodated in single rooms at Ibis Warszawa Centrum Hotel (a 20-minute walk from the ODIHR premises).

Fees

There are no fees. B&B accommodation (8 nights starting on 19 January), tuition, lunches and two reception-dinners are sponsored by the organisers.

Travels arrangements/expenses will be organised/covered by the participants. However, a maximum of two participants from ECPR institutions will have the opportunity to get their travel reimbursed on a merit-base.

Location

The School will be hosted by ODIHR. The ODIHR premises are located in Warsaw’s Old Town.

Directors

The School is directed by Dr Katarzyna Grzybowska - Walecka (Assistant Professor at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Head of the MA Programme on Politics in Cyberspace and editor of the journal Politologia) and Dr Fernando Casal Bértoa (Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, co-director of REPRESENT, member of the ODIHR Core Group of Political Party Experts and co-editor of the Routledge Book Series on Political Parties and Party Systems).