Hermann Schmitt, professor of political science, holds a Chair in Electoral Politics at the University of Manchester and is a research fellow of the MZES and Professor at the University of Mannheim. He was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan (1996-7), Science Po Paris (2001-2), the Australian National University (2003), the IAS in Vienna (2005), and the UAM in Madrid (2008). He received his doctorate from the University of Duisburg, and holds a venia legendi from both the Free University of Berlin and the University of Mannheim. He has been participating in a number of comparative projects; perhaps most important is his involvement, from 1979 on, in the series of European Election Studies. He received substantial research grants from European, German and British institutions. He is the author and editor of numerous books and articles on electoral behaviour in multilevel-systems and on political representation in the European Union.

Eftichia Teperoglou is a Lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (CIES-IUL). Her main research interests are in the fields of political and electoral behaviour with a focus on European elections, comparative politics and public opinion. She is one of the national directors for the Comparative Candidate Survey (CCS), Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) and European Election Study (EES) in Greece and one of the founders of the Hellenic National Election Study (ELNES).She has published her work in international journals and in edited volumes. She is the author of the book (in Greek) titled 'The other "national" elections. Analyzing the European Elections in Greece 1981-2014'.

Examining the 2014 European Election in Southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta), the region at the heart of the Eurozone crisis, the book investigates whether these electoral contests followed the normal pattern of previous second-order elections or alternatively displayed the characteristics of "critical elections" during a politically tumultuous period in Europe.

1. The 2014 European Parliament Elections in Southern Europe: Second-Order or Critical Elections? 2. Renzi's Honeymoon Effect: The 2014 European Election in Italy 3. Habituating to the New Normal in a Post-earthquake Party System: The 2014 European Election in Greece 4. Against Bipartyism, Towards Dealignment? The 2014 European Election in Spain 5. More Second-Order than Ever? The 2014 European Election in Portugal 6. Surprising Elections in Exciting Times? Of Proxies and Second-Order Events in the 2014 European Election in Cyprus 7. The Anatomy of a Misfit: The 2014 European Election in Malta