PhD Position in Political Science

About this position

The Department of Political Science is looking for a PhD candidate to work in the “ Doctoral Network Democratic Institutions and Violence Network in Europe ( DIViNE )” project, funded by the HORIZON MSCA action. The candidate will be supervised by Dr. Ursula Daxecker (University of Amsterdam and Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science) and Dr. Hanne Fjelde (University of Uppsala) and join a network of 10 PhD candidates across five universities. At the University of Amsterdam, the PhD candidate will be part of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) programme group Political Institutions and Identities (PII).

DIViNE brings together leading European research environments — UvA (Amsterdam), UESSEX (Essex), UMIL (Milan), UC3M (Carlos III de Madrid) and UU (Uppsala) — and partner organizations – including the new Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science — to combine complementary strengths in quantitative conflict research, behavioral and experimental methods, historical and archival inquiry, institutional and normative theory, and applied policy engagement .

Join us!

Democracies are commonly seen as able to channel contestation through institutionalized processes and nonviolent action. Yet, democratic polities frequently experience a broad range of political violence — from riots and organized electoral intimidation to extremist mobilization and criminal violence — and violence can test and, at times, erode democratic norms and institutions. Moreover, democracies themselves may respond to perceived threats with measures (e.g., militarized policing, emergency legislation, selective repression) that threaten to undermine core features of liberal democracy such as the rule of law, civil liberties and institutional impartiality.

The DIViNE Doctoral Network ( Democratic Institutions and Violence Network in Europe ) consolidates comparative, historical, theoretical and methodological strands to build a coherent new research program on political violence in democracies.

The position is part of WP2 on Democratization and Conflict Resolution, which explores the implications of regime transitions for patterns of violence. The PhD project analyzes endogenous processes through which political violence persists within democracies , focusing on how transitions reshape rent-seeking incentives, decentralization bargains, and relationships between national incumbents and local elites. It theorizes that democratization may inadvertently generate new incentives for electoral, ethnic, or criminal violence, depending on the nature of rents, types of institutional reforms, or elite-local configurations.

Empirical work will combine cross-national statistical analysis , subnational mixed-methods studies , and process tracing in Global South contexts. The project will contribute a unified theoretical framework explaining why violence endures despite formal democratic reforms.

The doctoral trajectory includes a three-month secondment at Uppsala University and IDEA in Sweden, which will provide applied exposure to policy debates on democratization, institutional design, and violence prevention, alongside training in comparative policy analysis.

For more information about the network, consult https://divine.unimi.it/

What are you going to do

You will:

be affiliated with the AISSR and participate in its organized PhD training. The academic work is to result in a doctoral thesis that will be defended at the Faculty of Social Sciences with the goal of obtaining the degree of PhD.

conduct PhD research on democratization and the persistence of political violence, including quantitative analysis of data, surveys and survey experiments, and fieldwork interviews.

co-author publications with other project members;

take active part in DIViNE training network activities including network training modules, PhD colloquia, research workshops, secondments, and training workshops;

take active part of the research environment at the AISSR, including PII research seminars, AISSR center activities, among others.

teach Bachelor-level courses, depending upon availability and as suitable for the PhD schedule (for a max. of 10%).

assist with administrative responsibilities related to the project, such as the organization of workshops, conferences, or other project events.

make Amsterdam (or a location within commuting distance) your primary residence for the initial three years of the PhD project, and Göttingen (or a location within commuting distance) for the one-year extension. We will assist with finding adequate housing and with applying for visa and residence permits.

What do you have to offer

You have the following credentials:

Essential:

a Master’s degree or equivalent in political science or closely related discipline. The degree must have been obtained by the start of your employment;

an excellent command of social science research methods, including quantitative methodology such as panel regression, analysis of large administrative data, survey data, causal inference design, and statistical programming in Stata/R/etc.;

an interest to conduct fieldwork in the Global South;

excellent oral and written communication skills in English;

independent thinking and critical analytical skills;

the ability to work independently and in a team.

• Desirable:
• knowledge of regional contexts of special relevance to project members and supervisors, such as South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa;
• experience with qualitative methods and mixed-methods approaches;
• expertise in research on political violence.

What else do we offer you

The position concerns temporary employment of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of three years at the University of Amsterdam, under the MSCA Doctoral Network employment conditions. The initial employment is for one year with an intended starting date of January 2027. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances, this ter