Carolin Ida Heilig

Supervisor: Prof Jan Kubik and Dr Seán Hanley

Present status: PhD candidate

Working title of thesis: Linkages between civil and political society: Women's mobilisation and the Polish U-turn

Research: Together with Hungary, Poland has become a major case for scholars and observers interested in the phenomena of populism, illiberalism and democratic backsliding in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. My project seeks to contribute to our understanding of the rise in illiberal politics in the post state-socialist CEE countries.

Poland forms the central interest of my research. It does so as a case of rising illiberalism but also as a country in the region where we can witness an increasingly active and pillarised civil society. The second research problem this project intends to address is therefore the role of civil society in a liberal democracy.

The premise of my research is that a thorough examination of the relations between different actors constitutes the key to the better understanding of complex structures connecting civil and political societies. For this my project focuses on the patterns of interaction and the social network created through these.

My research focuses in particular on mobilisation around women’s and gender issues and is part of the FATIGUE project.