Manfred G. Schmidt is Professor of Political Science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg.

Education

After studying political science and English studies, Manfred G. Schmidt received his PhD in political science from the University of Tübingen, directed by Gerhard Lehmbruch

Gerhard Lehmbruch

Gerhard Lehmbruch is a member of the University of Konstanz. He is a prominent researcher of Liberal corporatism.-References:...

. He received his postdoctoral degree (Habilitation) from the University of Konstanz in 1981.

Career

In 1982, he was appointed Professor of Political Science at the Free University of Berlin

Free University of Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...

. In 1987, he became Professor of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg. After conducting research at the Center for Social Policy Studies, University of Bremen

University of Bremen

The University of Bremen is a university of approximately 23,500 people from 126 countries that are studying, teaching, researching, and working in Bremen, Germany...

, from 1997, he returned to a professorship at the University of Heidelberg in 2001. He was the director of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg from that time until 2006. Since 2006/07, Schmidt has been Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg.

In 2002, was elected as a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, one year later as a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

The Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften is the academy of sciences of the German states Berlin and Brandenburg. As the word "Wissenschaft", in German includes both the natural sciences and the humanities, the academy's title is best translated as Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of...

. In 1995, he received the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Council

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...

(DFG). In 1999, a survey of the German Research Council among political scientists ranked him as the third most important political scientist in Germany, and as the most important researcher in comparative politics in Germany.

His research focuses on political institutions in Germany, social policies in comparative perspectives and theories of democracy.

Books/Edited Volumes (Selection)

• Das politische System der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Munich: C.H. Beck 2005.
• Der Wohlfahrtsstaat. Eine Einführung in den historischen und internationalen Vergleich, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
• Political Institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Regieren in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Innen- und Außenpolitik seit 1949, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2006 (co-editor Reimut Zohlnhöfer).

Articles

• Testing the retrenchment hypothesis: educational spending, 1960–2002, in: Castles, Francis G. (ed.), The Disappearing State? Retrenchment Realities in an Age of Globalisation, Cheltenham, UK/Northampton, MS, US: Edward Elgar, 159–183.
• Die Zukunft der Demokratie, in: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen 37, 2006, 812–822.
• Demokratische und autokratische Regimeeffekte in Deutschlands Sozialpolitik, in: Zeitschrift für Sozialreform 52 (2006), pp. 149–164.
• Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859), in: Bleek, Wilhelm und Lietzmann, Hans J. (eds.), Klassiker der Politikwissenschaft. Von Aristoteles bis David Easton, Munich: C.H. Beck 2005, pp. 95–108.
• Die öffentlichen und privaten Bildungsausgaben Deutschlands im internationalen Vergleich, in: Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften 2 (2004), pp. 7–31.
• Germany: The Grand Coalition State, in: Colomer, Josep M. (ed.) Political Institutions in Europe. London: Routledge (2002, 2nd ed.), 55–93.
• The Impact of Political Parties, Constitutional Structures and Veto Players on Public Policy, in: Hans Keman (ed.), Comparative Democratic Politics, London: Sage 2002, 166–184.
• Political Performance and types of democracy. Findings from comparative research, in: European Journal of Political Research 41 (2002), 147–163.
• Still on the Middle Way? Germany's Political Economy at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century, in: German Politics 10, No. 3, December 2001, 1–12.
• On the Political Productivity of Democracies, in: Scandinavian Political Studies 22 (1999), No. 4, 281–294.
• Determinants of Social Expenditure in Liberal Democracies: The Post World War II Experience, in: Acta Politica 32 (1997), No. 2, 153–173.
• Politics does indeed matter!, in: European Journal of Political Research 31 (1997), No. 1-2, 164–168.
• Arguments in favour of 'Democracies'..., in: European Journal of Political Research 31 (1997), Nos. 1–2, 193–195.
• When parties matter: A review of the possibilities and limits of partisan influence on public policy, in: European Journal of Political Research 30 (1996), No. 2, 155–183.
• The Parties-Do-Matter Hypothesis and the Case of the Federal Republic of Germany, in: German Politics 4 (1995), No. 3, 1–21.
• Political Consequences of German Unification, in: West European Politics 15 (1992), No. 4, pp. 1–15.