This report summarises the presentations held at a symposium that took place on 8 June 2015 in Hamburg to commemorate the life and scholarly achievements of Gero Erdmann. Erdmann has left deep footprints in the literature on neopatrimonialism, parties, and party systems in Africa, as well as on democratisation, including democracy promotion. Colleagues and former collaborators revisited some of his work and put it in the perspective of recent findings in the literature.