The Centre for Local Politics (CLP) at the Ghent University focuses on scientific research, education and services concerning local politics. The centre takes a political science perspective and covers subjects such as local political leadership, the working of the local council, decision making at the local level, scale (intermunicipal cooperation, amalgamations and regionalization), and Europeanization of the local level. The centre developed an integrated curriculum of courses on local politics and makes scientific services and expertise available for all stakeholders in the field of local government.
GASPAR is a research group that focuses on four research topics: political parties, political representation, participation and federalism. We study these topics on its own, but also in combination with each other. These topics are studied in Belgium, but also in international-comparative perspective, with no restrictions in terms of policy level. We use both quantitative (surveys, experiments, etc) and qualitative (interviews, QCA, etc) methods.
The Centre for Sustainable Development (CDO) was established in 1995 and is committed to contribute to translating and applying the concept of sustainability in our society - from the global to the local level - from a scientific point of view. The research focus lies on sustainability transitions and future scenario’s, controversies, discourses and socio-technical imaginaries, sustainability education, circular economy, sustainable cities, etc.
Ghent Institute for International and European Studies
Research at GIES focuses on six interrelated research themes, namely political economy, climate-energy-environment, development, geopolitics and strategy, (inter)regionalism and governance. Given the extensive focus on the EU among our researchers, the EU will take up a transversal place within GIES’ thematic profile. The GIES is currently engaged in some twenty-five PhD and postdoc research projects related to these themes. While being grounded in the disciplines of political science and international relations, the GIES is also open to interdisciplinary research, for instance, through cooperation with colleagues from departments for European law, history and economics.
