Lourdes Sola, Ph.D in Politics, University of Oxford, is professor (retired) of the Department of Political Science, University of São Paulo, and currently on the Executive Board of the Center for Public Policy, University of São Paulo, where she coordinates research projects on the Politics of Economic Transformation in Emerging Market Democracies.

She has served as Chair of the International Political Economy Committee at the Institute of Advanced Study, of the University of São Paulo; as President of the Brazilian Political Science Association (1996-1998 and 1998-2000); and President of IPSA (2006-2009). She was a visiting professor at St. Antony´s College (Oxford) and the Kellogg Institute (University of Notre Dame); and was Holder of the Rio Branco Chair for Brazilian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently she serves as member of the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA); on the Board of Directors of the Global Development Network (GDN); and on the Executive Committee of the International Social Sciences Council (ISSC).

Her publications include more than fifty articles in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English mainly on the political economy of democratization and economic transformation, and on the politics of central banking in Brazil. She is the author of several books such as “O Estado da Transição – Política e Economia na Nova República” (São Paulo, 1987); “Estado, Mercado, Democracia” (São Paulo, 1992);  “Idéias Econômicas, Decisões Políticas” (São Paulo, 1994). She co-edited with Laurence Whitehead, “Banco Central, Autoridade Política e Democratização – Um equilíbrio delicado” (Rio de Janeiro, 2002); and “Statecrafting Monetary Authority - Democracy and Financial Order in Brazil” (2005,Oxford).

José Álvaro Moisés is Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Center for Public Policy Research, University of São Paulo. He is MA in Politics and Government, University of Essex (1972) and PHd, University of São Paulo (1978). He was a Visiting-fellow at the St. Antony´s College (1991-92), Oxford University, and member of the Executive Committee of the Latin American Association of Sociology (1981-1983). He was National Secretary for Cultural Support and Development of Audiovisual of the Ministry of Culture in Cardoso administration in Brazil. He published many books, articles and chapters in Portuguese, English and Spanish, among which:

- 2009. “Civic Culture”, in Morlino, L. et allii. SAGE Encyclopedia of Political Science (printing press);
- 2008. Corporate Social Responsibility in two countries: Brazil and Norway. FAFO: Oslo (with Assumpção, M., Sacchet, T.& Trygstad, S.);
- 2008. “Cultura política, instituições e democracia: lições da experiência brasileira”. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, Vol 23:66,
p. 11-44;

 CNRS Research Director, Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot is the director of Sciences Po Bordeaux (University of Bordeaux). His doctorate and habilitation are in comparative politics and public policy. He was a visiting scholar at the Universities of Chicago, Michigan (Ann Arbor), and Harvard, and a visiting professor at the Universities of Colorado (Boulder), Barcelona (UAB), Madrid (UAM), Silesia (Katowice), Stuttgart, and Laval. He is a former research fellow of the Fulbright Scholar Program (1989) and of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation (1996). He served on the executive committee of the International Social Science Council (2000-2004). He was a member of the executive committee of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) (1997-2003) and the chairman of its workshop committee (2000-2003). From 2003 to 2009 he was the chairman of the research committee on comparative study of local government and politics (RC 05) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). Co-editor of the ECPR Press Series, he authored numerous professional articles and contributions to edited books, and has written and (co-) edited a number of books and major studies. These include Finances et pouvoir local : l’expérience allemande (1987), New Leaders, Parties and Groups : Comparative Tendencies in Local Leadership (1990), Local and Regional Bureaucracies in Western Europe (1991), Décentraliser en France et en Norvège (1996), Fremde Freunde. Deutsche und Franzosen vor dem 21. Jahrhundert (1997), The New Political Culture (1998), Quels partenariats pour la ville ? Approches internationales (1999), Urban Democracy (2000), Démocraties locales en changement (2004), Metropolitanization and Political Change (2005), State and Local Government Reforms in France and Germany. Divergence and Convergence (2006), Local Government Reforms in Countries in Transition: A Global Perspective (2007), Le gouvernement des villes. Une comparaison internationale (2007).

 Francisco J. Llera is Full Professor (1992) and Director of the Department of Political and Administration Sciences in the University of the Basque Country, where he founded and currently directs the EUSKOBAROMETRO. He is the President of the Spanish Association for Political and Administration Sciences. He has previously chaired both the Spanish Sociological Federation and the Basque Sociological Association, and he is a member of the European Academy (2002). He chairs the Local Organizer Committee of  XXII World Congress of Political Science (Madrid 2012).

He was ‘Prince of Asturias’ Professor in the Georgetown University of Washington D.C. (2002-03), and Visiting Scholar at Yale University (1987-88). He has been lecturer in the universities of Columbia, Harvard, Ohio State, Wesleyan, Lisbon, Leeds and Florence among others and in most of the Spanish universities. He worked as an official in the Regional Government of the Basque Country, as Deputy Regional Minister as well as Director of the Basque Institute for Statistics (EUSTAT). He has occupied several academic and institutional positions in the University of the Basque Country, the National Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of the Higher Education (ANECA), National Assessment and Prospective Agency (ANEP), Ortega y Gasset Higher Education Institute and FIIAPP, as well as in the Publishing Board of the Spanish Sociological
Research Institute (CIS).

 Şule Kut is currently Professor at the Department of International Relations in Istanbul Bilgi University. She has served as Vice-Rector of the University (2000-2007), Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (2005-2008), the Coordinator of the B.A. program in International Relations (1999-2008) and Chairperson of the International Relations Department (1999-2001). Her responsibilities as university administrator, in addition to assisting the university’s expansion and institutionalization, have included internationalization of the university and achieving quality management. Previously, Dr. Kut has been member of faculty at the Department of International Relations of Marmara University (1987-1998) and Koç University (1996-2000).

Şule Kut’s teaching and research interests include foreign policy analysis, Turkish foreign policy with emphasis on the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Turkish-EU and Turkish-US relations as well as Balkan politics. She is the author of four books and more than thirty articles in English and Turkish on Turkish foreign policy and Balkan politics. She serves on the editorial board of several academic journals in Turkey and abroad.

Kia Lindroos received the Master’s in Political Science in 1990 and the second master in Philosophy (1992), both at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.  After research period in Germany (Universität zu Köln) she defended her Licentiate theses in 1993. Ph.D. thesis in political science was finalized in 1998 (University of jyväskylä), after working at the Middlesex University, London. Currently, she works as professor of Political Science at the University of Jyväskylä. She is the President of the Finnish Political Science Association, Member of ECPSA Executive Committee and President of the ECPR Standing Group ”Politics and the Arts”. She is also member of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Political Thought and Conceptual Change.

Kia Lindroos’ research is at the intersection of political theory, philosophy and the art. The current research is a continuation of her long-standing interests in political theory, politics, time and aesthetics. The main focus is on temporality, in which the nature of political time appears as a core question. This is connected to the broader issues of political contingency and change. This work is based on her studies and publications on Walter Benjamin's thought.

 Born in Passau, Germany, in 1953. 1959-1963 primary education in Büchlberg;  1963-1972 secondary schooling in Passau (with a focus on Latin and ancient Greek).  1972-1974 military service;  afterwards active as reserve officer in the army. 1974-1980 studying political science, sociology and history (with some excursions to philosophy and history of art) at the Universities of Munich (Germany), Strasbourg (France) and Ann Arbor (USA). 1978 starting a ‘second life’ as a chorus conductor, when the Angath chorus festival was founded. 1980 obtaining the degree of Magister Artium (thesis on ‘References to history in political science’); afterwards teaching and research assistant at the Department of Political Ccience at University of Passau. 1984 PhD (thesis on ‘Ethnomethodologoy: theory, empirical studies, and its possible contribution to political science’). Subsequently assistant professor of political science at University of Passau, Department of Political Science. 1990 last step in the academic qualification process by ‘habilitation’ (thesis on ‘Role orientations and constituency work’ of Bavarian MPs on state, federal, and European levels). – Since 1991 active at Dresden University of Technology, first as founder of, since 1992 as full professor of comparative government at, this university’s Department of Political Science. Since then intensively engaged in building up the system of political education in Saxony, as a consultant to government and parties, and as commentator of political events in Saxonian and nation-wide press, radio, and TV. Visiting professor at Paris, Sorbonne, in 2000. Married in 1987; widower in 1996; remarried 1999; two children. In 2003, transferral of the Angath chorus festival to Schmochtitz (near Dresden).

Name:  Aiji Tanaka
Birth Year:  1951
Position:   Dean of Academic Affairs, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Professor of Political Science, School of Political Science and Economics,
Research Interests: Voting Behavior and Public Opinion, Japanese Politics
Education:
BA in Political Science from Waseda University, 1975.
Ph.D. in Political Science from the Ohio State University, 1985.

Born in Berlin, 1941. Educated at the Universities of Heidelberg, Saarbruecken and Frankfurt (Ph. D. 1971). Professor of Political Science, University of Osnabrueck, 1974-. Peer Reviewer, Volkswagen Foundation, 1983-1993. Member, Board of Trustees, Concentration Camp Memorials Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora, 1994-. Visiting Scholar, UCLA, 1995 and 2000; University of Arizona, 2005. Visiting Professor, UCLA, 2002. Chair, IPSA RC 16 (Socio-Political Pluralism), 2000-2006. Elected IPSA RC Liaison Representative, 2006. Research fields: Political theory, esp. pluralism and participatory democracy; evolution of political science in Germany; scholarly collaboration with the Nazi regime; role of violence in political and popular culture. Most recent publication: Pluralism. Developments in the Theory and Practice of Democracy, ed. 2006 (Vol. 4 in the IPSA 'World of Political Science' Series).

Born in 1943, Dirk Berg-Schlosser is currently professor and director of the Institute of Political Science, Philipps University, Marburg/Germany. He has done research and taught at the universities of Munich, Aachen, Augsburg, Eichstaett, Nairobi, Stellenbosch/South Africa, Berkeley and Marburg. From 1988 to 2000 he has been chairman of the Research Committee on "Democratization in Comparative Perspective" of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). His research interests include political culture, empirical democratic theory, Third World studies, comparative politics, comparative methodology.

Recent major publications are: Political Stability and Development (with Rainer Siegler), Political Culture in Germany (with Ralf Rytlewski), Literaturfuehrer Politikwissenschaft (with Sven Quenter), Empirische Demokratieforschung, Perspektiven der Demokratie (with H.J.Giegel), Armut und Demokratie (with Norbert Kersting), Conditions of Democracy in Europe 1919-39 (with Jeremy Mitchell), Perspectives of Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe (with Raivo Vetik).