Hello, my name is
Kiran Auerbach
PhD

The workshop will bring American and European scholars together to explore how the places where people live and interact with one another affect democratic attitudes, voting, and polarization. We are particularly interested in the relationship between place-based identities and other social identities like class, ethnicity, and gender. On the supply side, we seek to understand the strategies that parties use to mobilize geographic divisions and bundle them with other issue areas. More broadly, what are the consequences for party system change and democratic stability?
The workshop is organized together by the University of Bergen and the University of Zurich. Host at the University of Bergen is DIGSSCORE, at the Department of Government.
Currently:
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science at the University of Zürich, Switzerland.
I am a political scientist specializing in comparative democratization, political parties, corruption, and local governance.
What drives political actors to be more or less accountable to citizens? My research draws on in-depth field work and incorporates quantitative and qualitative methods.
My current research explores territorial political divisions. How do rural-urban and center-periphery cleavages affect political discontent and lead to polarization? How do politicians and parties respond, and what are the consequences for democratic stability?
From 2018 to 2022 I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Bergen Department of Comparative Politics.
I obtained my Ph.D. and M.A. in political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I also hold an M.A. in Democracy and Human Rights in South-East Europe from the University of Bologna (Italy) and the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). I earned my B.A. in international relations from Stanford University. I am originally from the United States, but currently live in Zürich.
I am available for media engagements, educational and professional trainings, and consulting services.