Education: BA, University College Dublin; PhD, Leiden University

Career: Peter Mair has been Professor of Comparative Politics at the European University Institute in Italy since 2005 and is on leave from Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he holds the Chair of Comparative Politics. He has previously worked in the Universities of Limerick, Strathclyde and Manchester, and was Assistant Professor of Political Science in the EUI in the early 1980s. His research interests include comparative European politics, parties and party systems, elections, governments and forms of democracy. His current research interests focus mainly on a project investigating the complex relationship between democracy, indifference and the challenge to popular sovereignty. Peter Mair has been co-editor of the journal West European Politics (see url below) since 2001.

Publications include: numerous books and articles on Irish politics and comparative European politics, including: Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability (co-author) (ISSC/UNESCO Stein Rokkan Prize) 1990, The Enlarged European Union (co-editor) 2002, Political Parties and Electoral Change (co-editor) 2004, Representative Government in Modern Europe (fourth edition; co-author) 2005

Contact details: Address: Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Via dei Roccettini 9, 50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (Firenze), Italy; Tel: +39 (0)55 4685-210; Tel: +39 (0)55 4685-217; Fax: +39 (0)55 4685-201; Email: peter.mair@eui.eu ; Website: http://www.eui.eu/SPS/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/jour nals/titles/01402382.asp/ .