Agnieszka Kwiatkowska is a sociologist and political scientist, and a professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Previously, she was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute (2023–2024), an Assistant Professor at SWPS University (2014–2026), and Director of Research at the Polish Psychologists’ Association (2014–2018). She is a member of the Executive Board of the Political Sociology Section of the Polish Sociological Association.
Her research focuses on political behaviour, political representation, and public discourse, with particular emphasis on how political elites and citizens respond to processes of democratic backsliding in contemporary Europe. Her work lies at the intersection of political sociology, comparative politics, and political communication. She combines advanced quantitative methods with computational text analysis and qualitative approaches.
She has worked as principal investigator or researcher on numerous research projects funded by the National Science Centre, Poland, international foundations, and public institutions. In her current DEMRES project, The Effectiveness of Discursive Strategies of Democratic Backsliding and Democratic Resilience (National Science Centre OPUS, 2025–2030), she examines the discursive strategies employed by populist and anti-populist actors in Europe. Her research has been published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals, including Democratization, European Societies, Acta Sociologica, and Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. Beyond academia, she collaborates with non-governmental organisations, public institutions, and the media, disseminating research findings and contributing them to public debate.
Research Interests
- political discourse analysis
- democratic resilience
- anti-climate narratives
- disinformation
- electoral behaviour
- women’s political participation
Latest Publications
- Kwiatkowska, A. (2025). Poland’s Opposition Politics: Resisting the Populist Swing. In E. O’Malley, F. Cavatorta, & A. Baturo (Eds.), Handbook of Opposition Politics (pp. 223-244). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Kwiatkowska, A., & Grzybowska-Walecka, K. (2025). Polarized Democracy: Diverging Attitudes towards Democracy. In K. Grzybowska-Walecka, S. Guerra, & F. Casal Bertoa (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Polish Politics (pp. 309-331). Oxford University Press.
- Muliavka, V., Kwiatkowska, A., & Plisiecki, H. (2025). In defence of democracy: parliamentary opposition and democratic resilience in Poland. East European Politics, 41(1), 117-141.
- Kwiatkowska, A., Pustułka, P., & Buler, M. (2024). Persistence of Abortion Stigma Inscribed in the Legal Framework: The Case of Abortion Attitudes in Poland. Social Politics, 31(2), 273–297.
- Kwiatkowska, A., Muliavka, V., & Plisiecki, H. (2023). Hollowed or redefined? Changing visions of democracy in the political discourse of Law and Justice. Democratization, 30(3), 458-478.
External Links
Personal website: https://agnieszka.es/
ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2241-0831
Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FObKrVEAAAAJ
Scopus profile: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57193161601
ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Agnieszka-Kwiatkowska-2
