PRuF director Thomas Poguntke visited Nihon University, Tokyo, in October and delivered three guest lectures on contemporary aspects of German and comparative research on political parties. Highlight of the 12-day visit was the keynote address entitled „Leader politics or party politics: the presidentialization of politics around the globe“ at a symposium organized by Professor Masahiro Iwasaki on “Parliamentary democracy at the crossroads“.
Professor Iwasaki has edited the 2014 Japanese edition of the book „The Presidentialization of Politics in Modern Democracies“ edited by Thomas Poguntke and Paul Webb. It is intended to deepen the cooperation with colleagues at Nihon University further. Part of the visiting programme was a meeting with Prof Takayoshi Uekami of Kokugakuin University, Tokyo, who is in charge of the Japanese part of the global research programme on the organization of political parties (PPDB) which is directed by Thomas Poguntke, Susan Scarrow (Houston) and Paul Webb (Sussex).
