Postgraduate Conference: Contemporary theoretical and methodological challenges in political science

25 September, 8 Spiru Haret St., Negulescu Hall

Program

9:00-9:30 – Registration and meeting of the participants

9:30-10:00 – Welcome speech – Prof. Jean Michel De Waele (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

10.15-12.30 – Panel: Contemporary challenges of democracy

Discussant: Mihail Chiru (Oxford University)

– Marius Ghincea, Triangulated Capture: EU Conditionality, Geopolitical Competition, and the Logic of State Capture, ETH Zurich

– Maria Francesca Cristea, Disinformation in the 2024 European Elections: The different approaches of

national parties in Romania versus the European Groups, University of Bucharest, FSPUB,

– Bogdan-George Rădulescu, Cognitive Warfare and the Erosion of Liberal Democracy through Algorithmic Populism, Institute of Political Science and International Relations (ISPRI) of the

Romanian Academy

– Oana Marinescu (University of Bucharest), Illiberal challenges to public diplomacy, University of Bucharest

12:30-13:00 Lunch Break

13:00-15:30

Panel 2: Liberalism and representation: rights and inequality

Discussant: Prof. Jean Michel De Waele (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

– Andrei Gheorghe, The construction of relevant themes in the Romanian nationalist-populist discourse, University of Bucharest

– Andreea-Celina Ferenț. Democratic Backsliding and Women’s Representation in Romanian Politics – A Decade of Contemporary Challenges to a Liberal Democracy (2014-2024), University of Bucharest

– Adriana Daniela Giurca, Margins of Democracy: Rural Education and Political Disengagement in Romania, University of Bucharest

– Schechter Silvia-Diana, Studying Voter Reticence in Romania’s Presidential Elections in 2025, University of Bucharest

Despa Lucian-Andrei, Echoes of Uprising: Historical Dimensions of Kurdish Gender Politics, Militancy and Reconstruction in the MENA Region, University of Bucharest

15:00-15:15 Coffee break

15:15-17:30

Panel 3: Methodological challenges in the analysis of contemporary practices (University of Bucharest)

Discussant: Andreea Zamfira, (University of Bucharest)

– Lahai Paul Kaffo, Turkey as a Mirror: Rethinking Political Science in the Age of Democratic Erosion (Cyprus International University)

– Roxana Olaru, Human rights under illiberal democracy. Case study Poland 2015 -2022, University of Bucharest

– Laura Vartolomei, Pathways to Cabinet. Ministerial Selection Policy in Romania: Party Influence and Coalition Dynamics, SNSPA, Bucharest

– Mirancea Diana-Nicoleta. Methodological challenges in the analysis of digital activism (University of Bucharest, Doctoral School of Political Science)

– Marianna Prysiazhniuk, Lacuna epistemologică între tradiția rusă și cea occidentală în analiza războiului informațional, University of Bucharest

17:30-18:00 Final remarks

As per usual, the event is open to the whole academic community of the University of Bucharest.