Fabian Burkhardt

Fabian Burkhardt is a comparative political scientist specializing in authoritarian regimes, with a regional focus on post-Soviet countries including Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. He currently serves as a Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS Regensburg), where he studies how digital transformation affects post-Soviet authoritarian systems. Since 2020, he has co-edited the policy journals Russland-Analysen and Ukraine-Analysen.

• PhD in Political Science from the University of Bremen (2018)
• Previous affiliations: LMU Munich, HSE Moscow, SWP Berlin

Research Interests: Burkhardt’s work examines political institutions (executives, constitutions) in authoritarian regimes, with emphasis on digital authoritarianism, passportization, and elite dynamics. His projects include a SSHRC-funded study on Russia’s Media at War (2024–2028) and a 2021 IMPULSE-funded online survey on Belarusian protests.

Publications: His 15 most recent works span journals like Democratization, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, and Post-Soviet Affairs, covering topics such as internet voting in hybrid regimes, regime personalization, and citizenship manipulation in conflict zones.

Presentations: Burkhardt has presented at institutions including RUSI, Chatham House, and ASEEES, focusing on themes like Russia’s wartime elites, digital repression, and Belarusian constitutional reform.

Teaching: He has taught courses on comparative politics at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow) and LMU Munich.