Mikel Barreda Díez

Professor Agregat Law and Political Science Department

Expert in::

ICT Information and Communication Technologies
politic science
politics

Research group: GADE
Area: Social sciences
Area of specialization: Law, Politics and the Internet, Network society,
Membership Center: Faculties
UNESCO codes:: 59, 5904, 5907, 590790

ODS:

My profile

Doctorate in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Deusto (Bilbao). Associate professor of Political Science at the UOC's Faculty of Law and Political Science. Director of the UOC's Bachelor's Degree in International Relations. Before joining the UOC, I taught and carried out research at two other universities (University of Deusto and Pompeu Fabra University), and I was a senior consultant at a think tank specializing in development cooperation and institutional strengthening (International Governance Institute of Catalonia (IIGC)).

My research activity focuses on studying political institutions in modern democracies, both from a comparative perspective and from a case study perspective. In particular, my main current lines of research focus on democratic quality, accountability, party systems, think tanks and political representation processes, paying particular attention to Latin American.

At present, I am a researcher on the R&D project "Beyond the organization chart: centres of power in Latin American parties" (PID 2019-104787RB-I00).

I am member of the UOC's e-Governance: electronic administration and democracy (GADE) research group.

I also perform quality assessment activities for university qualifications, in particular as a member of the Social Sciences II Commission of the Madridmasd Foundation.

Files (CV)

Lines of research

Quality of democracy in Latin America

This line of research studies the quality of democracy in the Latin American region, both from a comparative perspective and through case studies. It seeks to examine the empirical measurement of the quality of democracy, as well to address its chain of causation (main explanatory factors and effects).

Think tanks and political parties

In recent years, think tanks have become one of the organizations that play a major role for political parties. In particular, they supply them with expertise for making political decisions. Despite the growing connection between the two types of organizations, academic knowledge remains limited. This line of research aims to explore this relationship further by means of case studies and comparative research. Among other questions, it seeks to analyse the strategic usefulness of think tanks for political parties, their impact on party life, as well as the factors that may influence the extent and type of links between parties and think tanks.

Accountability of public authorities

The study of accountability mechanisms promoted by governments and public administrations, in particular any initiatives aimed at providing explanations on the level of fulfilment of government commitments. To this end, work is being carried out in two different areas: developing new methodologies to analyse accountability and developing applied studies (comparative or case studies) on the subject.

Polarization in Latin American party systems

Political polarization is one of today's major issues. The aim here is to examine the relevance, changes and implications of polarization in Latin America, particularly focusing on ideological polarization. Both case studies and comparative studies can be carried out for this purpose.

Projects

Transfer results

Technology Solutions

Patents

Spin-Offs

What can we offer

Advice on the quality and strengthening of institutions

Consultancy and advisory services for organizations (public or private) on issues of institutional quality and strengthening (quality of democracy, accountability mechanisms, political participation, e-democracy, etc.).