Research Assistant 2022

The Institutions and Political Economy Research Group (located in the School of Economics at the University of Barcelona) seeks to fill up to one research assistant position linked to a 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 students or recent graduates in any social science or humanities’ fields, preferably with an excellent command of English. The position will have a duration of up to 2 months (until June 2022). The main task consists of digitalizing an archival data set from the UK. The time schedule is flexible and will be agreed with the chosen candidate – which will be 20 hours per week. Salary comes with full social security benefits.

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).

The candidates interested in the position should submit a CV and a motivation letter. All applications submitted before April 15, 2022, will be granted full consideration. Please email them to: Ms. Anna Alsina, Institutions and Political Economy Research Group, University of Barcelona, [email protected] . For further enquiries, candidates can contact the project’s academic coordinator, Prof. Guillem Riambau by email: [email protected]

Acronym

Partydemocracy - GA Nº 694318

FBG project number

402078

Project title

The Birth of Party Democracy

IP

Carles Boix Serra

Department

Department of Economy and Business – UB

Gross salary per year

16.320€/year

How to apply

Required documents

Application letter, Curriculum vitae, motivation letter.

Send your application to:

email

[email protected]

Name

Anna Alsina

email subject

Research Assistant IPErG