Wolfgang Merkel (WZB, Berlin Social Science Center) is the director of the research program “Democracy and Democratization” of the Research Center for Social Sciences in Berlin (WZB), professor of political science at Humboldt University and a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is also a non-party member of the Commission for Core Values of the Executive Board of the German Social Democratic Party (SDP). He is the author of the book Demokratie und Krise (ed. 2015); he Future of Representative Democracy (2011, co-authors: Sonia Alonso and John Keane) and The Capacity to Reform (2008) which has been translated into German, Chinese and Vietnamese. He has published over 200 scientific papers on the topics of democracy and democratization, dictatorships in the 21st century, political parties, comparative public policies, the future of social democracy, the welfare state and social justice.
