Dr Diana Rafailova

I obtained a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in February 2024. My dissertation was awarded the 2024 Linz-Rokkan Prize for the best EUI dissertation in Political Sociology.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at the ERC-funded project "MoveMeRU" at the Centre for East European and International Studies and a senior fellow at SCRIPTS, Free University of Berlin.

My interests include political regimes, authoritarian socialization, and political attitudes. In my dissertation, I examined the effects of political regimes on education quality, learning outcomes, and critical thinking. My postdoctoral research further explores the role of political socialization in democratic and authoritarian contexts in shaping political attitudes. Within the ERC-funded project "MoveMeRU", focusing on first-generation immigrants from (Soviet) Russia and their children in liberal democracies, I examine what beliefs underly their weaker or stronger commitments to democracy and support for autocrats.

I employ both quantitative and qualitative data in my work. In my dissertation, I utilized extensive time-series cross-sectional data and large-scale cross-national surveys. As a postdoctoral researcher, I have led focus group data collection, having organized and conducted intergenerational discussions with more than 200 participants in Germany, Estonia, and Canada.

Recent publication:

Kostelka F., Alberdi M., Bradley M., Fiselier T., Jabbour A., Mansour N., Minaeva E., Porciuleanu S., Rafailova D. 2026. ‘Mass Attitudes towards Russia’s Aggression against Ukraine: Tentative Support for Top-Down Opinion Formation’. Forthcoming in European Journal of Political Research.