Electoral Integrity and Disinformation in an Era of Democratic Backsliding

Cristina is Lecturer in EU Politics at the University of Salford Manchester. She is a specialist in the comparative politics of gender, political representation and democratic institutions in Central and Eastern Europe.

Her most recent work is on gender and democratic resilience in post-communist Europe, focusing in particular on EU member states such as Romania.

Hugo is a PhD candidate at ICS, University of Lisbon. He studies how intra-party divisions can have both negative and positive effects on party and voter behaviour, as well as how young people gain access to and shape political institutions – with a particular focus on party youth wings as ‘ideological watchdogs’ within parties.

His work has been published in the European Journal of Political Research, West European Politics, International Political Science Review, and Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, among others.

Aleš is a PhD candidate at Charles University, Prague. His research focuses on polarisation and populism in Central Europe. More specifically, he investigates protest activities of the Czech populist and anti-system movements.

Aleš published works on Central-European populist subtypes, populist communication and their both electoral and non-electoral strategies.

Jonathan is Professor of Political Science at Lund University. He is an elected member of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Executive Committee, serving on the Strategic Subcommittee, with responsibility for leading ECPR’s House Series and efforts to uphold academic freedom.

His teaching and research focuses on political party competition, European integration and comparative politics.

Aleks is Professor of Politics at the University of Sussex. He is author of Poles Together? The Emergence and Development of Political Parties in Post-communist Poland (Central European University Press, 2001), Poland Within the European Union: New Awkward Partner or New Heart of Europe? (Routledge, 2012), Politicising the Communist Past: The Politics of Truth Revelation in Post-Communist Poland (Routledge 2018) and co-editor (with Paul Taggart) of Opposing Europe?: The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism (Oxford University Press, 2008).

He is the co-convenor (also with Paul Taggart) of the European Parties Elections and Referendums Network (EPERN) and Associate Editor of Party Politics. He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Journal of Common Market Studies and European Politics and Society.

Aleks comments regularly about contemporary Polish politics on his research blog.

Sarah is a Lecturer in Quantitative Political Science at Queen’s University Belfast, where her work examines the strategic manoeuvres of political parties – particularly those on the radical left – and the dynamics of their electorates.

Her research into the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht have yielded articles in Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Research & Politics, German Politics, and the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. She has also published a monograph on the BSW in Springer’s Essentials series.