Josep Colomer

Josep M. Colomer is a political scientist and economist whose work focuses on comparative politics, institutional design, and democratic theory. His research examines strategies for the design, establishment, and change of political institutions, including democratization processes, the origins of parliamentary and separation-of-powers regimes, the development of electoral systems and voting rules, and the evolution of nations and empires such as the United States and the European Union. Colomer also explores the increasing influence of global institutions.

A Fulbright Scholar at the University of Chicago, Colomer has taught at institutions including the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, Institut d'Etudes Politiques SciencesPo in Paris, University of Bristol, FLACSO and CIDE in Mexico City, and New York University.

Colomer served as a Distinguished Professor and is currently an Associate Researcher at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington and at the Institute of Political and Social Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has authored or edited more than 140 scholarly articles, 26 books, and over 80 book chapters. His books have been translated into English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, and Russian. Notable works include "Political Institutions," "The Science of Politics: An Introduction," "Great Empires, Small Nations," "How Global Institutions Rule the World," and "Constitutional Polarization: A Critical Review of the U.S. Political System."

Colomer co-authored "Democracy and Globalization: Anger, Fear and Hope" with Ashley Beale, which was selected by Financial Times as one of the Best Books. In "Constitutional Polarization," Colomer contends that political polarization is embedded in constitutional design, arguing that sustained conflict and institutional gridlock stem primarily from the separation of powers between the presidency and Congress, combined with a two-party system, rather than from personalities or socioeconomic and cultural inequalities.

Colomer has received several awards for his work, including the Prat de la Riba Award for "Great Empires, Small Nations," the American Political Science Association's Leon Weaver Award for best paper in Representation and Electoral Systems, and Oxford University Press Editor's Choice for "Political Institutions." He is an elected member of Academia Europaea and holds life memberships in the American Political Science Association and the Mexican Association of Political Sciences. Having visited 40 countries, worked in five, and lectured in five languages, Colomer offers a global perspective on issues in democratic governance and political institutions.