Felix Wiebrecht

Dr. Felix Wiebrecht is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool, where he joined in 2023. He maintains an affiliation with the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg as a Research Associate, having previously served there as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. His academic journey culminated with a PhD in Government and Public Administration from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2022.

His research focuses on three interconnected areas:

• The politics of authoritarian regimes, particularly examining institutional functionality in non-democracies with emphasis on parliaments and political parties
• Elite composition and management in authoritarian systems, including original data collection on elites across non-democracies
• Regime changes, analyzing both democratization and autocratization processes, with specific projects on disinformation's impact on democracy and effectiveness of democracy assistance

His recent publications reveal a strong methodological approach to comparative politics, with significant contributions to understanding institutional dynamics in authoritarian contexts. The research shows particular emphasis on Chinese political systems while maintaining a global comparative perspective, especially through work with the V-Dem dataset.

As an educator, Dr. Wiebrecht coordinates and teaches several key modules including Comparative Politics (POLI107), Research Internship (POLI001), and Philosophy, Politics and Economics Dissertation (HASS301), demonstrating engagement with both undergraduate and postgraduate instruction.

He actively contributes to the academic community as Co-Founder of the Authoritarian Political Systems Group (APSG) and Co-Convener of the PSA Specialist Group Autocracy and Regime Change, while currently leading a research project on Parliamentary Elites in Authoritarian Regimes funded by the American Political Science Association (2024-2026).