Jean Blondel prizewinner's book is published

Philipp Köker’s award-winning book on presidential activism in Central and Eastern Europe published

Philipp Köker has just published his first book in the new series Palgrave Studies in Presidential Politics, which is co-edited by the convenor of the ECPR Standing Group on Presidential Politics, Gianluca Passarelli. Now a Senior Research Fellow in Politics and International Relations at Canterbury Christ Church University (UK), Philipp developed the monograph from his Jean Blondel Prize-winning PhD thesis, which he completed at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London.

The book, Presidential Activism and Veto Power in Central and Eastern Europe, examines the use of presidential powers in Central and East Europe between 1990 and 2010, focussing on presidential vetoes and the formation of governments. Based on original quantitative data and unique insights into presidential politics gathered through a large number of elite interviews, it provides one of the first comprehensive comparative studies of presidential activism and veto power in Europe.

'Despite the prominence of presidential powers in academic debates, until now only few scholars have tried to analyse and explain how presidential actually use them', says Philipp. 'My study attempts to fill this gap in the literature and add to our understanding of presidential politics in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems.'

Philipp’s book has already received praise from established scholars. Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, Professor of Comparative Politics at the Leuphana University Lüneburg, highlights the originality and scientific rigour of the study. 'The book is an inspiration for scholars of comparative government. It has set a new approach of excellence for those seeking to understand presidential activism in democracies across the globe.'

Follow Philipp on Twitter, via his website or his blog.

The Jean Blondel PhD Prize

Since October 2003, we have awarded an annual PhD prize for the best thesis in politics (broadly conceived to include International Relations, Political Theory and Public Administration) nominated by a full member institution that, with revision, could be published as a book. Nominations for this year's prize have now closed, but look out for the call for nominations for the 2018 award, opening 1 October.

Browse list of past winners