PhD Student
Institut d'Etudes européennes
Campus du Solbosch - CP 172
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50
1050 Bruxelles
Bio
I am a PhD researcher in the JUDEMO project at Université libre de Bruxelles and a scientific collaborator at UCLouvain. My dissertation focuses on the politics of militant democracy and studies how strategies, justifications and competition of political parties interact with the use of democratic defense mechanisms.
My broader research interests include democratic resilience, rule-of-law resilience, illiberalism and populism.
I am an Associate Fellow at the Institut für Europäische Politik in Berlin and was a re:constitution Fellow in 2025/2026. I obtained an MA in Political Science from Free University Berlin in 2023.
CV
- Since October 2026: PhD candidate, Université Libre de Bruxelles & scientific collaborator, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- June 2023 – September 2026: Research Associate, Institut für Europäische Politik, Berlin, Germany
- September 2025 – June 2026: re:constitution Fellow 2025/2026
- April 2021 – April 2023: Master of Arts in Political Science, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Areas of research
- Militant democracy
- Democratic resilience
- Democratic backsliding
- Rule of law
- Party systems
- Political economy
- Comparative politics
- Research
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Title of my Dissertation : From Coalition to Court: Party Strategies, Justifications and the Politics of Militant Democracy in Europe
Coined by Loewenstein in 1937, militant democracy is characterised by the constitutionalisation of repressive measures to safeguard the democratic order against anti-democratic forces, including party bans. While courts ultimately decide on measures of militant democracy, in many European states procedures are initiated by governments or parliaments. In my research project, I am interested in the party-political dimension of militant democracy, understanding it as a party centred, negotiated practice in which parties are not only targets but also agents of militant democracy. The dissertation comparatively studies the preconditions under which political parties promote, accept, or reject measures of militant democracy, and how these conditions interact with court decisions. - Publications
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- Albrecht, Y., Sendler, C. (2026). Distinguishing Democratic Resilience and Rule of Law Resilience. RESILIO-ACCESS Snapshot Analysis.
- Albrecht, Y., Skóra, M. (2025). Rechtsstaatsresilienz in der Praxis: Ansätze und Perspektiven aus den EU-Mitgliedstaaten, in: integration 1/2025, pp. 30-50.
- Cseres, K., Albrecht, Y. (2025). The Authoritarian Market Playbook, in: Verfassungsblog, 31.01.2025.
- Skóra, M., Nonhoff, D., Albrecht, Y. (2024). What makes the rule of law resilient? Evidence from EU27. RESILIO Monitor Full Report, Institut für Europäische Politik, Berlin, URL