Acknowledgements

Donors

This report was made possible by the generous support of Google, Inc., The Hurford Foundation, Jyllands-Posten Foundation, Lilly Endowment Inc., the Merrill Family Foundation, and National Endowment for Democracy.

The Freedom in the World Junior Fellowship program gives young researchers critical work experience in the democracy and human rights field. The nine-month program employs Junior Fellows in core research positions to contribute to this report, and equips them with a range of marketable skills that can propel them on to successful careers.

The Freedom in the World Junior Fellowship program is generously underwritten by the Merrill Family Foundation, with support from the Panter Foundation. The Junior Fellows contributing to Freedom in the World 2023 include:

Dasha M., Junior Fellow for Europe and Eurasia
Arya Patel, Junior Fellow for sub-Saharan Africa
Eilidh Stalker, Junior Fellow for the Americas

Research and Editorial Team

Elisha Aaron, Associate Editor

Yana Gorokhovskaia, Research Director, Strategy and Design

Cathryn Grothe, Research Analyst

David Meijer, Associate Editor

Shannon O’Toole, Managing Editor

Tyler Roylance, Staff Editor

Adrian Shahbaz, Vice President for Research and Analysis

Amy Slipowitz, Research Manager

Lora Uhlig, Associate Editor

Analysts

Fatimah Mohamed Alfareh, Independent researcher

Aurora Almada e Santos, New University of Lisbon

Victoria Andreasyan, Independent researcher

Ignacio Arana Araya, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

Bojan Baća, University of Gothenburg

Slava (Veaceslav) Balan, Independent researcher, PhD candidate, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law

Daniel Esteban Barría Yorins, Independent researcher

Mariana Batista, Federal University of Pernambuco

Armend Bekaj, Uppsala University, Sweden

Bruno Binetti, Non-resident fellow, Inter-American Dialogue

Sebastian Bitar, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

Brett Carter, University of Southern California and Stanford University

Anastasia Chacón González, Independent researcher

Armando Chaguaceda, Gobierno & Análisis Político AC

Hannah Chapman, University of Oklahoma

Annie Barbara Chikwanha, University of Johannesburg

Peter Clegg, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Costa Constanti, Independent researcher

Jack Corbett, University of Southampton

Tariq Desai, Position Green Advisory

Karin Deutsch Karlekar, PEN America

Neil DeVotta, Wake Forest University

Julian Dierkes, University of British Columbia

Jake Dizard, Independent researcher

Rose Dlougatch, Independent researcher

Juan Carlos Donoso, NORC at the University of Chicago

Boniface Dulani, University of Malawi

Daniel Eizenga, Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Anas El Gomati, Director, Sadeq Institute

Golnaz Esfandiari, Senior Correspondent, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Jon Fraenkel, Victoria University of Wellington

Corinna-Barbara Francis, Independent consultant

Courtney Freer, Visiting Assistant Professor, Emory University

Sergiu Gherghina, University of Glasgow

Dustin Gilbreath, Caucasus Research Resource Centers Georgia

Hamida Giyasbayli, Independent researcher

Liutauras Gudžinskas, Vilnius University

Fabian Habersack, University of Innsbruck

Jamie Hitchen, Independent researcher

Eva Marín Hlynsdóttir, University of Iceland

Jonathan Hulland, American Jewish World Service

Niklas Hultin, George Mason University

Harry Hummel, Think-Do-Tank Democracy and Human Rights

Aminath Aryj Hussain, Independent researcher

Salomé Ietter, PhD researcher, Queen Mary University of London

Rico Isaacs, University of Lincoln

Faysal Itani, The New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy

Kristen Kao, University of Gothenburg

Weronika Kiebzak, Independent researcher

Marko Kmezic, University of Graz

Ágnes Kovács, Eötvös Loránd University

Joshua Kurlantzick, Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia, Council on Foreign Relations

Olena Lennon, University of New Haven

Lone Lindholt, Independent researcher

Maria Lindholt, Independent researcher

Isabel Linzer, Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs

David McGrane, University of Saskatchewan

Rachael McLellan, University of Glasgow

Mpumelelo Mkhabela, Independent researcher

Jasmin Mujanovic, Independent researcher

Kuniaki Nemoto, Musashi University, Japan

Franklin Oduro, Independent researcher

Lucas Olo Fernandes, Independent researcher

Susan Ostermann, University of Notre Dame

Ana Pastor, Independent researcher

Aljaž Pengov Bitenc, Independent researcher

Lucas Perelló, Skidmore College

Elizabeth Ramey, Independent researcher

Adrien Ratsimbaharison, Benedict College, Columbia, SC (USA)

Vlora Rechica, Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” Skopje

Elizabeth Rhoads, Lund University

Tyson Roberts, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Marek Rybar, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia

Michael Semple, The Senator George Mitchell Institute for Global Peace Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast

Debbie Sharnak, Rowan University

Maggie Shum, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

Olga Skrypnyk, Head of the Board, Crimean Human Rights Group

Ruzha Smilova, Centre for Liberal Strategies and Sofia University

Merve Tahiroglu, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)

Rebecca Tapscott, The Geneva Graduate Institute

Ermias Tasfaye, Independent researcher

Jenny Town, Independent researcher

Dércio Tsandzana, Independent researcher

Elizabeth Tsurkov, Research Fellow, New Lines Institute

Noah Tucker, Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews

Olesya Vartanyan, Senior South Caucasus Analyst, International Crisis Group

Wouter Veenendaal, Leiden University

Diego Velazquez, Journalist

Franz von Bergen Granell, Independent researcher

Nikolaus von Twickel, Center for Liberal Modernity (Berlin)

Soazic Elise Wang Sonne, United Nations University and World Bank Group

Gregory White, Smith College

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, Consulting Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group

Christalla Yakinthou, University of Birmingham, England

Advisers

Alejandro Anaya-Muñoz, Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México

Rodrigo Barrenechea, Universidad Católica del Uruguay

Florian Bieber, University of Graz

Julio F. Carrión, University of Delaware

Licia Cianetti, University of Birmingham

Javier Corrales, Amherst College

Mai El-Sadany, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)

Šumit Ganguly, Indiana University, Bloomington

Julie George, CUNY Queens College and The Graduate Center

Lane Greene, The Economist

Steven Heydemann, Smith College

David Holiday, Independent researcher

Sari Kouvo, Gothenburg University

Adrienne LeBas, American University

Peter Lewis, Johns Hopkins University SAIS

Scott Mainwaring, University of Notre Dame

Peter Mandaville, United States Institute of Peace

Houda Mzioudet, University of Toronto

Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University

George Ofosu, London School of Economics and Political Science

Ken Opalo, Georgetown University

Robert Orttung, George Washington University

Tsveta Petrova, Lecturer, Political Science, Columbia University

Catherine Putz, The Diplomat

Gideon Rahat, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel Democracy Institute

Lahra Smith, Georgetown University

Susan Thomson, Colgate University

Maya Tudor, Oxford University

Bridget Welsh, University of Nottingham Malaysia

Susanna D. Wing, Haverford College