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Baumann, Julia

Julia Baumann

PhD Student in Comparative Politics and East European Studies

Contact

Contact

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft
Oettingenstr. 67, Raum 168
80538 München

Email: baumann.julia@lmu.de

Website: LMU München

Doctoral Project

How do opposition actors contest local elections under the conditions of electoral authoritarianism? Evidence from contemporary Russia

While national and regional elections have become less competitive in Russia throughout the last decades, there has recently been a rise in electoral competition on the local. This observation is reflected in an increasing number of applicants as candidates for local elections in some places and in the comparatively significant electoral success for the opposition on the municipal level in several cities (e.g. 2017, 2019, 2020).
To address this puzzle, I investigate how opposition actors organize electoral competition on a municipal level under the conditions of electoral authoritarianism. Using a qualitative case study approach, I examine the municipal electoral process and local political dynamics in four Russian regional capital cities (Orel, Nizhny Novgorod, Tomsk and Vladimir) throughout the campaign and electoral period related to the city council elections in September 2020. Based on interviews, press reports, campaign materials and social media posts, the in-depth investigation shall allow to identify the strategies sought by opposition actors in the local electoral arena and explain their successes and failures. Overall, the dissertation seeks to deepen our understanding of local political processes in Russia and, more general, of subregional elections in electoral autocracies.

Curriculum Vitae

Julia Baumann has been a research associate at the Chair of Comparative Political Systems (focus on East Central Europe and Eurasia) at Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science since 2019. Julia holds a Bachelor degree in European Studies that she pursued at Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg and St. Petersburg State University from 2011 to 2015. In 2017, she graduated with a specialization in Politics and Security from the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (UCL London) and the Higher School of Economics Moscow (HSE). In her master's thesis, Julia investigated the influence of authoritarian cooperation on the legitimation strategies of authoritarian regimes, using the example of Russia-Belarus relations.

Awards

  • DAAD scholarship for field research in Russia (09 – 10/2021)
  • Scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (05/2016 – 08/2017)
  • Scholarship holder of Heinrich Böll Foundation (10/2013 – 08/2016)
  • Inclusion into ‘Dean’s List 2017’ UCL (Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences) for academic excellence.
  • Faculty Award 2015 as best graduate of year at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Human Sciences

Publications

  • With Stykow, P. (2023): Das politische System Russlands. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
  • Der Einheitliche Wahltag 2023: Russlands Regionen im zweiten Kriegsjahr. In: Russland-Analysen: 441, 2–6.
  • With Trenchi, R. (2018): Because Democracy Matters. Options for the EU and MERCOSUR to Restrain Authoritarian Tendencies. In: Laible, A. et al. (eds.): Strengthening EU-LAC Cooperation: Sharing Experiences for Present and Future Developments. IFAIR Impact Group ‘LACalytics’ Policy Paper Series, vol 2. Berlin: Young Initiative on Foreign Affairs and International Relations e.V.
  • With Shumanov, I. et al. (2017): How Russian corporate lobbying in the EU works: a new report by Transparency International – Russia. Moscow: Transparency International Russia.

Reviews

  • Dollbaum, Jan Matti/Lallouet, Morvan/Noble, Ben (2021): Nawalny: Seine Ziele, seine Gegner, seine Zukunft. Hoffmann und Campe Verlag. In: Forschungsjournal soziale Bewegungen, 2022, 35 (2), 428-432.
  • Martin Aust (2019): Die Schatten des Imperiums. Russland seit 1991. München: C.H. Beck Verlag. In: In: H-Soz-Kult, 17.03.2022, www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-28402.