Policy knowledge production in de-democratizing contexts
Andrea Krizsán, Katarzyna Jezierska, Adrienne Sörbom
Katarzyna Jezierska
Professor
Organization
Staff member at Division of Urban Planning and Development.Research area
Conducts research in social sciences, political science.Research
My PhD thesis (2011) was written in the field of democratic theory. I compared two contemporary thinkers, Chantal Mouffe and Jürgen Habermas, contrasting their writings about politics and political subjectivity in an ambition to carve out a third position on radical democracy that moved beyond both Mouffe and Habermas.
In my postdoc project (The Swedish Research Council’s international postdoc 2012-2016) I studied civil society and democracy in Central Europe, more specifically, how civil society actors engage in or are drawn into formal politics.
Since then, I have led and contributed to several large externally funded research projects:
1) Together with Ann Towns, I have studied the intersection between diplomacy and civil society (The Swedish Research Council, 2019-2023). We focused on how these two actors interact and how formal foreign policy is implemented and adapted in contexts where norms collide. Empirically we studied the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy in Central Europe. More on this project can be found at https://gendip.gu.se/ Connected to this topic, during 2022, I was working with Ann Towns and Elin Bjarnegård on a report commissioned by The Expert Group for Aid Studies. We evaluated the methods of implementation of the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy in partner countries. The full report is available here: https://eba.se/rapporter/more-than-a-label-less-than-a-revolution-swedens-feminist-foreign-policy/20624/
2) Together with Adrienne Sörbom and Andrea Krizsán (funded by The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 2020-2023), I have focused on policy advice in illiberal contexts, exploring what role think tanks (a special type of civil society actor) play in such countries.
3) In another project (funded by The Swedish Research Council, 2023-2025) I study knowledge production and advocacy in the international arena, with a special interest in how civil society organizations influence the orientation and content of anti-gender and feminist foreign policy.
4) In my most recent project, together with Isabel Bramsen and Lisa Strömbom (funded by The Swedish Research Council, 2025-2027), I will explore the potential for agonistic diplomacy in multilateral diplomacy, focusing on the Israel-Palestine question in the UN Security Council and General Assembly.
Teaching
I currently serve as program co-director for the IPPE program, and my teaching and supervision is within that program.
Keywords
Civil society, think tanks, policy advice, de-democratization, illiberalism, diplomacy and gender, feminist foreign policy
Publications
(De)Polarization Entrepreneurs? : Think Tanks and Pernicious Polarization in Central Europe
Katarzyna Jezierska, Andrea Krizsán, Adrienne Sörbom
The politicization of diplomacy : a comparative study of ambassador appointments
Birgitta Niklasson, Katarzyna Jezierska
Illiberal Think Tanks
Katarzyna Jezierska
Resourceful civil society : navigating the changing landscapes of civil society organizations
More Than a Label, Less Than a Revolution : Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy
Ann Towns, Elin Bjarnegård, Katarzyna Jezierska
Polish Human Rights Organizations : Resisting Institutional Pressures
Zhanna Kravchenko, Katarzyna Jezierska, Marta Gumkowska, Beata Charycka, Magdalena Szafranek
Pecunia olet : The Funding Dilemma for Think Tanks in Poland
Katarzyna Jezierska
Variations on shared themes : Branding the Nordics as gender equal
Katarzyna Jezierska, Ann Towns
COVID-19 and Gender : A Necessary Connection in Diplomatic Studies
Ann E. Towns, Katarzyna Jezierska, Anne-Kathrin Kreft, Birgitta Niklasson
Dangling in a Vacuum : A Presentation of Polish Think Tanks in Political Life
Katarzyna Jezierska
Proximity and distance : Think tanks handling the independence paradox
Katarzyna Jezierska, Adrienne Sörbom
Performing Independence. The Apolitical Image of Polish Think Tanks
Katarzyna Jezierska
Diplomatic Infrastructure
Katarzyna Jezierska, Ann Towns
Can a feminist foreign policy be undone? : Reflections from Sweden
Ann Towns, Katarzyna Jezierska, Elin Bjarnegård
Maternalism : Care and control in diplomatic engagements with civil society
Katarzyna Jezierska
Introduction
Zhanna Kravchenko, Lisa Kings, Katarzyna Jezierska
Jaget möter den andre : alternativ till deliberativ demokrati
Katarzyna Jezierska
Social capital and polarization : The case of Polish think tanks
Adrienne Sörbom, Katarzyna Jezierska
Coming out of the liberal closet : Think tanks and de-democratization in Poland
Katarzyna Jezierska
Bridging or Bonding? : Think Tanks in a Polarized Context
Adrienne Sörbom, Katarzyna Jezierska
Incredibly loud and extremely silent: Feminist foreign policy on Twitter : Feminist foreign policy on Twitter
Katarzyna Jezierska
Introduction : Travelling from West to East: Think Tank Model Adaptation to Central and Eastern Europe: Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe
Katarzyna Jezierska, Serena Giusti
Three Types of Denial : Think Tanks as a Reluctant Civil Society Elite
Katarzyna Jezierska
With Habermas against Habermas : Deliberation without Consensus
Katarzyna Jezierska
Taming feminism? : The place of gender equality in the "Progressive Sweden" brand
Katarzyna Jezierska, Ann Towns
Research