Sam van der Staak is the Director for Europe at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). His work focuses on responding to democratic developments in Europe, with a special emphasis on the topics of political parties, money in politics, and ICT in democracy. Van der Staak manages International IDEA’s Regional Europe Programme, in which capacity he leads International IDEA’s representation to the European Union in Brussels. Sam has been involved in International IDEA publications on Cybersecurity in elections, Citizen movements, Money in politics, and Political party dialogue. He makes regular media contributions for national and international media.