Arjan is the new professor in Comparative Territorial Democracy at the Department
Arjan Schakel has been appointed as professor in Comparative Territorial Democracy at the Department of Comparative Politics. He was previously research professor at the department where he in 2019 started to work on the research project "Strengthening Regional Democracy" funded by a Trond Mohn Foundation starting grant.
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Arjan heads the Centre on Regional Democratic Governance which bundles together several research projects and activities which seek to understand under which conditions regional democratic institutions contribute to good democratic governance. Schakel’s team consists of two PhD-students (Berkay Alica and Alexander Verdoes), two postdocs (Bilal Hassan and Martin Okolikj), and a research assistant (Magnus Buseth Danielsen). Together they study how regional electoral systems, regional parliaments, and regional executives impact voting behaviour in regional, national, and European elections. In addition, they research public opinion regarding multilevel government and role perceptions of local and regional representatives. Furthermore, they study how regional institutions and politics impact public policy.
Schakel’s research team has co-developed the European Regional Democracy Map and manages the Observatory on Regional Democracy. The team collaborates with Øystein Solvang and Jonas Stein from the University of Tromsø on research on governance in the Artic regions and the team is partner in a Europe Horizon project (LEGITIMULT) that investigates how regional governments have impacted Covid-19 responses in Europe. The team teaches SAMPOL120 Scandinavian Politics and Government and SAMPOL348 Local and Regional Democracy in Multilevel Norway and Europe.
Arjan is very happy to contribute to the research and teaching of the department in his new role as professor and he is looking forward to continued collaboration with his Sampol colleagues.
TMS Starting grant at Sampol
Arjan Schakel is one of two receivers of the Trond Mohn Foundations starting grant at the department. Yvette Peters, now a professor a Sampol, also received the grant in 2016.
