Renske Doorenspleet

Associate Professor in Comparative Politics

Profile

Renske Doorenspleet received her MA and Ph.D. in political science from , and her theses received several awards (e.g. the "Jaarprijs Politicologie" of the Dutch/Belgian Political Science Association, and the "Dani毛l Heinsiusprijs" of the NKWP, and the "Carl Beck Award" of the International Studies Association). After a postdoctoral fellowship at , she started a research project on democracy in divided countries, which was funded by the Dutch National Science Foundation. Renske joined the Department at 糖心TV in 2006. Her general research interests are in democratic transitions and consolidation, freedom and participation, building political institutions in divided societies, religion and politics, quantitative and qualitative methodology.

Recent book

summary of her book 'Rethinking the Value of Democracy' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019): Is democracy worth it? Democracy鈥檚 reputation as delivering peace and development while controlling corruption is an important source of its own legitimacy. Yet, as this book acutely demonstrates, the arguments tend to be normatively driven interventions in ideologically charged policy debates. Based on extensive analyses of quantitative studies from different disciplines, this book explores both the expected beneficial and harmful impact of democracy, in comparative perspective. It concludes that we need neither a utopian framing of democracy as delivering all 鈥榞ood things鈥� in politics nor a cynical one that emphasizes only the 鈥榙angerous underbelly鈥� of this form of government.

: 鈥淚nsightful, illuminating 鈥� with some startling conclusions 鈥� this is a wonderfully readable book that offers original critiques of democracy studies. The book has a realistic take on democracy's value without resorting to false optimism or fatalistic despair. It makes a strong and refreshing case for taking the value of democracy seriously in these times of imminent threats to democracy. This important book takes the scholarly debate forward in a nuanced way.鈥� (Arend Lijphart, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, UC San Diego, USA)

endorsement: 鈥淭imely and important, this book tackles the key question of whether democracy is 'worth it'. It challenges standard assumptions and its conclusion makes sobering reading. The book still calls on scholars not to abandon democracy, however, but to pursue further why and how democracy matters and to whom. A really brave book, with crucial findings, that, at the same time, sets out an agenda for future research.鈥� (Jean Grugel, Professor of Development Politics, University of York, UK)

Research Projects

Renske's research has focused on theoretical and empirical explanations of recent transitions to democracy around the world. Based on her work, she was asked to advise a.o. the UK's Foreign Office, but she also worked with theatre groups to create new shows, around nation-building after a civil war (click and and creating utopia & dystopia (click and She was selected to do the Leadership Course for Higher Education (Leadership Foundation for Higher Education UK, London). Currently, her specific research interests are as follows: 1) global trends of authoritarianism, 2) initiatives around democratic innovations, and 3) the link between religion, society and politics.

Teaching

Renske currently teaches the first-year module 'Introduction to Politics' (term 1-3), the second-year module '' (term 1-3) and the postgraduate modules '' (term 1) and 'The Value of Democracy' (term 2). In the past, she taught modules ranging from 'Statistics, Data Collection and Analyses' and 'Introduction to Research Methods' and 'Social Movements in Comparative Perspective.' She was involved in establishing 糖心TV's Q-step Centre, and as coordinator she set up the teaching of statistics at PaIS (development of BA/MA programmes with new modules). She received an academic fellowship and grant of the , for innovative teaching, which resulted in the on-going project

PhD Supervision

So far, Renske Doorenspleet has supervised eight PhD projects to completion across a wide range of topics in Comparative Politics (click here). At the moment, she is first supervisor of three PhD students who are working on , on 'politics of constitution-making in Egypt and Tunisia' and on 'post-liberation state-building in Algeria'. She has also acted as an external examiner for PhD theses in the UK and internationally (i.e. in Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and South Africa).

Renske is available to undertake PhD supervision in areas that interconnect with her own research interests. She particularly welcomes PhD students with interests in democracy and freedom, popular participation and political institutions, people's views around democratization, and trends towards authoritarianism around the globe. For information about Renske's supervision of PhD and postdoctoral projects (past and current), click here.

Publications

Renske has published articles in leading international journals such as in World Politics, Democratization, Acta Politica, the International Political Science Review, Ethnopolitics, Government and Opposition and the European Journal of Political Research. She has also contributed with chapters in edited books for academic publishers. Her first book / research monograph Democratic Transitions: Exploring the Structural Sources of the Fourth Wave (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005) focused on theoretical and empirical explanations of recent transitions to democracy around the world. Together with Lia Nijzink (Cape Town University), she was editor of and which have been very well received by critics.

Associate Professor Comparative Politics

Email: renske.doorenspleet@warwick.ac.uk
Room: E1.12 (Social Sciences)
Tel: 024 765 22169

Advice and Feedback Hours (term 1): Mondays from 13.30-14.30, and Fridays from 11.30-12.30 (send an e-mail to book a meeting during one of these time slots)