Y. Goris (Yannicke)

Yannicke Goris is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science, supervised by Prof. C. van Ham and Prof. W. van Meurs. Her interdisciplinary research explores how civic space is contested in different political contexts (autocracies and democracies), focusing on Poland and Spain.

Challenging the idea that civic space shrinks during democratic decline, her project shows that it is more useful to think of reconfiguration instead. While some civil society actors indeed face (at times severe) restrictions, others gain space and new opportunities. What is more, these struggles over civic space unfold not only between the state and civil society, but also among civil society actors themselves.

Through comparative historical analysis, Yannicke examines the role of civil society actors in the contestation over civic space during authoritarian rule (Communism in Poland and Francoism in Spain) and in the two decades following each country's democratic transition (Poland post-1989 and Spain post-1975). Her work highlights the complex and sometimes contradictory role civil society plays—at times defending democracy, at other times undermining it.

The project aims to bridge academic research and practice, generating insights that support civil society efforts to strengthen democracy and protect civic space for pro-democratic actors.