Party Patronage and Party Government in European Democracies Tapa dura - 2012

Petr Kopecky has published extensively in the fields of comparative politics, party politics and democratization. His books include Parliaments in the Czech and Slovak Republics (Ashgate 2001), Uncivil Society? Contentious Politics in Eastern Europe (co-edited, Routledge 2003), Political Parties and the State in Post-Communist Europe (edited, Routledge 2007). He is a co-editor of the journal East European Politics. He is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Leiden University, Netherlands.

The late Peter Mair was Professor of Comparative Politics and Director of Graduate Studies at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He was co-editor of the journal West European Politics, and an Honorary Professor in European Politics at Leiden University. He was a former winner of the Stein Rokkan Prize and co-director of the Observatory on Political Parties and Representation, based at the EUI in Florence.

Maria Spirova has published on issues related to party development, minority policy, ethnic politics, and Europeanization in the post-communist world. She is the author of Political Parties in Post Communist Societies: Formation, Persistence and Change (Palgrave McMillan, 2007). She is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics and International Relations in the Department of Political Science at Leiden University, Netherlands.