CV
You can find the highlights of my resume below, or download my full resume here.
Contact Information
| Name | Joep van Lit |
| Professional Title | Postdoctoral Researcher |
| joep.vanlit@ru.nl | |
| Location | Elinor Ostrom Building (EOS), room N02.421, |
Professional Summary
I am a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in comparative political science at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. My research focuses on democratic recession and democratic defence, examining how political elites, institutions, and citizens respond when democracy comes under pressure.
Experience
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2026 - today Fribourg
Postdoctoral Researcher in Comparative Political Science
University of Fribourg
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2025 - today Nijmegen
Postdoctoral Researcher in Comparative Political Science
Radboud University
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2020 - 2025 Nijmegen
Lecturer in Political Science
Radboud University
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2023 - 2023 Gothenburg
Visiting Researcher
V-Dem Institute, Gothenburg University
Education
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2020 - 2025 Nijmegen
PhD, cum laude
Radboud University
Comparative Political Science
- Thesis: Beautiful Spark of Democracy: The Conditions for Democratic Defence Against Incumbent-led Democratic Recession (published Open Access by Radboud University Press).
- Supervisors: prof. dr. Carolien van Ham and prof. dr. Maurits J. Meijers.
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2017 - 2019 Leiden
MSc (res), cum laude
Leiden University
Political Science and Public Administration
Interests
Projects
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Liberal Commitment
With a team at the University of Fribourg, under supervision of Natasha Wunsch we are building a novel measurement of citizens’ commitment to liberal democracy. Within this project, I am investigating how liberal commitment impacts citizens’ political behaviour and willingness to defend democracy.
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Countering Autocratization
During my PhD project, I started working on several papers that investigate different actors and different actions of democratic defence. I seek to understand who is an effective defender of democracy, under what circumstances, and using what resistance strategies.
- Countering autocratization: a roadmap for democratic defence
- When elites defend democracy, do citizens listen? How elites alert citizens to democratic recession
- Defending democracy: investigating the efficacy of elite democratic defence in a competitive information environment
- The would-be autocrats’ toolkit: what do incumbents do when they undermine democracy?
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DIY Deepfakes
Together with Michal Mochtak I am developing a workflow to use deepfakes as research tools. An integral part of the project is to empirically investigate the ethical consequences and limits of this, as well as to develop effective deriefing procedures.