Kari Palonen has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Helsinki. He is Professor of Political Science at University of Jyväskylä since 1983, with emeritus status since 2015. In addition he has been Academy of Finland Professor in two 5 years periods (1998-2003, 2008-2012), Director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Political Thought and Conceptual Change (2006-2011), co-founder of the History of Concepts Group 1998 and co-chair of the ECPR SG Political Concepts since 2015. His research Interests include: the concept of politics and its history; political thought and methodology of Max Weber; principles and practices of conceptual history; parliamentary concepts, procedure and rhetoric.