Niko Switek is DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor for German Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School for International Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. His research interests focus on political parties and party systems as well as on coalition politics. He wrote extensively about the German green party 'Bündnis 90/Die Grünen' and the green party family in Western Europe. In addition he worked on parties on European level ('Europarties') and just recently compiled a volume on fictional TV series about politics.