The Higher Research Seminar: ‘From Historical Polarization to the Left Turn: Explaining Party System Responsiveness in Latin America’ – Simon Bornschier, University of Zurich

Wednesdays 13.15 to 14.30 in Eden 367, unless otherwise indicated. 

Chair: Professor Jonathan Polk

The Department’s Higher Research Seminar Series | Department of Political Science (lu.se)

Simon Bornschier, Director of the Research area Political Sociology University of Zurich

Cleavages and Party System Change

My research focuses on party system formation and change, and the role of ideological polarization in fostering the substantive representation of voter preferences. I am also interested in how protest politics interacts with the electoral arena.

Latin America

In my work on Latin American party systems, I study how historical legacies interact with the competitive strategies of contemporary political parties, producing vast differences in the quality of representation.

Western Europe

Building on my earlier work, I continue to study cleavages in Western Europe. In a collaborative project, we study the role of group identities in the crystallization of the universalism-particularism cleavage, and in the growing antagonism between the New Left and the radical populist right.

Comparative Political Sociology at IPZ

I direct the Research area Political Sociology at the Institute for Political Science (IPZ) at the University of Zurich. My teaching focuses on comparative democratization, party systems and party system change in Latin America and Western Europe, as well as on political protest.