Damien J du Preez

I am an MA Comparative Democracy student at the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt and a student assistant in the Democratic Innovations Research Unit. I mostly work on the i4i project with Prof. Dr. Brigitte Geissel, but now also on the RISS II project with Prof. Dr. Daniela Grunow. Wanting to contribute to the development of democracy as a normative political project, my research interests include democratic innovations, democratic systems theory, democracy beyond the nation state, and the democratic challenge of long-term collective action problems like climate change. As an MA thesis project, I am attempting to expand Warren’s problem-based approach to democracy into a conceptualisation suitable for the empirical analysis of democratic systems like the European Union.

In my previous role at CREDO, I initiated a project to design South Africa’s first citizens’ assembly and implemented a successful public engagement strategy aimed at strengthening the centre’s reach and credibility. I hold a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Stellenbosch University and previously won funding for an academic exchange at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, focusing on EU governance.