Dr. Petra Guasti is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Research Unit ‘Democratic Innovations’ working on a DFG-ANR project: (New) Political Representative Claims: A Global View (France, Germany, Brazil, India, and China).
She previously held research and teaching positions at the University of Bremen (2005-2008), University of Wurzburg (2008-2011), University of Mainz (2011-2016), the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences (2011-2016) and a visiting position at the Queen’s University Belfast School of Law (2016).
Dr. Guasti holds an M.A. in Society and Politics from Lancaster University (2002), a PhD in political sociology from the Charles University (2007) and PhD in political science from Bremen University (2014). Her research stays include among others University of Essex (UK), EUI (Italy), Soochow University (Taiwan), Arizona State University (USA) and most recently Queens University of Belfast School of Law (UK). She is a Co-convener of the Standing Group Central and Eastern European Politics of the European Consortium for Political Research.
Her main research focus is democracy, more specifically on the growing tension within the system of representative democracy in respect to its legitimacy. Her main interests are the study of structures, actors and processes that enable more participation of citizens, leading to more inclusiveness of representative democracy. She has an ongoing interest in civil society and human rights.