Kiran Auerbach is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Comparative Politics. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway. She obtained her Ph.D. and M.A. in political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her B.A. in international relations from Stanford University.

Kiran’s research investigates political accountability in both developing and advanced democracies. How do formal and informal institutions, social identities, and public opinion affect democratic performance? She has extensive field experience in the Western Balkans and completed the European Regional Master’s Degree in Democracy and Human Rights in South-East Europe at the University of Bologna and the University of Sarajevo.

At IPZ, her agenda focuses on subnational territorial divisions. How do rural-urban and center-periphery cleavages shape political discontent and affective polarization? How do political parties respond, and what are the consequences for democratic stability?