Place of birth: London, England

Education: BSocSc, Russian Studies 1966; PhD, University of Birmingham 1974

Career: Paul Lewis is Professor of European Politics in the Faculty of Social Sciences at The Open University, UK where he was previously Senior Lecturer in Government. His major focus of research activity has been comparative politics with a prime concern for the politics of communist and post-communist Eastern Europe. Since 1989 his main research interests have concerned the process of post-communist political change in Central and Eastern Europe. Much of the early work in this area was carried out within an ESRC-funded research group that formed part of its East-West Programme and involved colleagues from four other British universities, as well as a number of other colleagues and collaborators in Central and Eastern Europe. Paul Lewis is co-editor of the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics (see url below).

Publications include: The Practice of Comparative Politics: A Reader (co-editor) 1973 (second edition 1978), Eastern Europe: Political Crisis and Legitimation (editor) 1984, Poland: Politics, Economics, and Society (co-author) 1988, Political Authority and Party Secretaries in Poland, 1975–1986 1989, Global Politics: Globalization and the Nation-state (co-author) 1992, Democracy and Civil Society in Eastern Europe: Selected Papers from the Fourth World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, Harrogate 1990 (co-editor) 1992, Political and Economic Forms of Modernity (co-editor) 1992, Developments in East European Politics (co-editor) 1993, Central Europe since 1945 1994, Stabilising Fragile Democracies: Comparing New Party Systems in Southern and Eastern Europe (co-editor) 1996, Party Structure and Organization in East-Central Europe (editor) 1996, Developments in Central and East European Politics 2 (co-editor) 1998, Eastern Europe 1918–53: From Versailles to Cold War 1999, Political Parties in Post-Communist Eastern Europe 2000, Party Development and Democratic Change in Post-Communist Europe (editor) 2001, Developments in Central and East European Politics 3 (co-editor) 2003, Pan-European Perspectives on Political Parties (co-editor) 2003, Exploring Political Worlds (editor) 2005, The European Union and Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe (co-editor) 2006, Developments in Central and East European Politics 4 (co-editor) 2007; numerous articles in professional journals

Contact details: Address: Department of Politics and International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, England; Tel: +44 (0)1908 654431; Fax: +44 (0)1908 654488; Email: p.g.lewis@open.ac.uk ; Website: http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13523279.asp/ .