Postdoctoral Fellowships on Comparative Politics

The Institutions and Political Economy Research Group (located in the School of Economics at the University of Barcelona) seeks to fill up to two post-doctoral fellowships on comparative politics linked to an European Research Council-financed five-year research project on a cross-national historical comparison of electoral systems, electoral behaviour and party systems in advanced democracies. The Principal Investigator is Professor Carles Boix and includes scientific collaboration with major centres of research in Europe and the United States.

The Principal Investigator is looking for young political scientists, historians, sociologists or economists – preferably with strong quantitative skills. The candidates must be in possession of the PhD by September 30, 2018. The position will have a duration of 1 year (with a possible one-year renewal for two consecutive years). The annual stipend, commensurate with those for postdoctoral researchers in Spain, will be of 34.000-37.500 euros depending on the researcher’s qualifications.

The selected postdoctoral fellows will be required to be in residence for the entire 2018-19 academic year, starting October 1.

The research program is focused on the emergence of mass parties, the choice of electoral institutions, and the final crystallization of different party systems in Europe and North America during the transition to mass democracy (1850-1940). The project will combine innovative statistical, historical and geocoding techniques to explain the formation of diverse party systems as the outcome of political choices made at particular critical junctures that involved the creation of nonsocialist and socialist parties, the mobilization of their corresponding electorates, and the strategic response of political elites (often through the manipulation of electoral laws and sometimes through the creation of new electoral coalitions).

Interested candidates may contact the principal investigator for more details by email: cboix@princeton.edu.

Candidates for the positions should submit: a cover letter, CV, a three-to-five page description of their research accomplishments and interests, one paper and the name of two references. For full consideration, all applications should be submitted before May 31. However, applications will continue to be reviewed until positions are filled.