dr. S.P. (Simon) Otjes
Research interests
Currently, I work as researcher the Documentation Centre Dutch Political Parties (DNPP) of Groningen University. My research focuses on the patterns that structure conflict and cooperation between political actors: these include ideological lines of conflict which divide political parties, the dimensions that structure public opinion and the patterns in parliamentary voting. At the DNPP, I also examine developments in European and Dutch party politics. My work combines academic publications with participating in the public debate.
Earlier I worked as post-doctoral researcher at the Institute Public Administration of Leiden University, as an electoral researcher for the headquarters of the Dutch Greens and Bureau de Helling, the thinktank of the Dutch Green Party and as a PhD-researcher at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University. I defended my thesis in 2012. It focused on the effect of the entry of new parties into the political arena on existing parties and the party system. My research concerned the reactions of parties in both the parliamentary and electoral arena. Before starting the PhD-program I studied Political Science and Philosophy of the Social Sciences at Leiden University.
My academic interest spans a broad range of subjects and includes comparative politics, political parties, party systems, party positions, parliamentary behaviour, interest groups, voting behaviour and political science methodology.