Josep Colomer Keynote Speaker

Josep Colomer is a professor of political science at Georgetown University in Washington DC, United States, and top speaker on government, democratisation, political institutions, electoral systems and international affairs.

Previously, Professor Colomer has worked in many academic roles across the world, including at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Barcelona; the University of Bristol, UK; New York University; Institut d’Etudes Politiques, SciencesPo, Paris; the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, Mexico; amongst others.

Professor Colomer has authored and edited 141 scholarly articles, 26 books and 83 book chapters. His books have been translated into English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, and Russian. He writes about topics such as democratisation, political institutions, electoral systems and international affairs. His latest book, ‘Democracy and Globalization: Anger, Fear and Hope’, which he co-authored with Ashley Beale, was selected by the Financial Times as one of the Best Books of 2020.

His insights and expertise are widely recognised across the world, and he has delivered over 100 guest lectures at 83 institutions across 25 countries, in three languages. He has worked as a consultant for electoral and constitutional reforms in Spain, Estonia, Mexico, Colombia, the European Union, and the United States.

Professor Colomer has received numerous prizes and awards for his work, including the Prat de la Riba Award for the best book in Philosophy and Social Sciences from 2002 to 2006, for his book ‘Great Empires, Small Nations’, which was also shortlisted for the Europa book prize in 2007; the American Political Science Association’s Leon Weaver Award for the best paper in ‘Representation and Electoral Systems’, 2004; and Oxford University Press Editor’s Choice for the year 2001 for ‘Political Institutions’.

He has been awarded life membership with the American Political Science Association and is an elected member of the Academy of Europe.

Speaking Topics

• How to be an academic, and enjoy the profession – Breaking the stigma surrounding academic professionals, this topic is catered to graduation ceremonies, commencements, and similar events.
• The future of democracy – Democratic governance needs to accept the challenge of globalization. It should be organized at the local, the national, and the global levels without the absolute sovereignty of national states.
• Inequality and democracy – Is the current crisis of democracy related with increasing inequality? Or rather with the split of the middle class?
• Will there be more national democracies? – The number of democracies has stalled at about half the countries and half the world’s population and has not increased since the beginning of the current century. Is Islam associated with dictatorship? When China will become democratic?
• The global institutions prefigure a world government – The G-7 and the G-20, together with the World Bank, the IMF, and other specialized organizations, is the closest thing to a world government that has ever existed.
• The European Empire – What type of political beast is the European Union? It’s not a superstate, but it’s more than an international organization. We can think again about Europe as a postmodern, democratic, non-imperialistic Empire.
• Europe, like America. Or viceversa? – Should the European Union follow the historical example of the United States for building a large democratic federation? Or can the United States learn something from the experience of the European Union?