معرفی
Dr Valeria Tonhäuser is a Scientific Associate at the Chair of Politics I for Comparative Political Systems and Policy Analysis, Institute of Political Science, within the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Since May 2017 she has conducted research and taught courses at HHU, after earlier serving as a research assistant at the Chair of Comparative Politics, University of Cologne.
Education & international experience
- PhD in Political Science – University of Cologne
- MA Politics & Public Administration – University of Konstanz
- Research & study stays: European University Institute (Italy), University of Exeter (UK), State Duma (Russia), European Parliament (Belgium), University of Vienna (Austria)
Research interests
Dr Tonhäuser focuses on political representation broadly conceived. Her work centres on party regulation, party finance laws, and parliamentary ethics/conflicts of interest. She is further interested in intra-party democracy, multi-level policy change, and the methodology of comparative politics, employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Publication profile
Across her recent publications (2017-2024) a clear pattern emerges: an emphasis on regulatory governance of political actors, comparative analyses of party finance transparency, and the evolution of ethics regimes in European parliaments. Studies span Western, Scandinavian and post-Soviet contexts, integrating insights from institutionalism, policy diffusion and legal-institutional perspectives.
Scientific awards
- 2015 Peter Mair Party Politics Prize – awarded for Part I of her PhD thesis on party finance regulation changes driven by international actors.
Teaching & advising
Dr Tonhäuser offers regular consultation hours and has taught courses including Introduction to Political Theory, Political Finance in International Comparison, Comparative Analysis of Party & Electoral Systems, Policy Analysis and Party Finance Reforms, Political Representation, The Political System of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Computer-assisted Data Analysis with Stata. She is also involved in the Regulating Civil Society: NGO and Party Law and their Consequences project at the University of Exeter.
