Welcome to my website!

What is Democracy? What do people think democracy is? Why do periods of democratization and globalization occur in waves and what drives them? What role does armed conflict play? How can we assess and strengthen democratic resilience?
Vanessa Boese Economics Berlin
Copyright: WZB/Bernhard Ludewig

My research focuses on finding answers to these questions. I am Principal Investigator and head of the research group "WAVES of Regime Transformation" at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany. In addition, I am research associate at the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

I am also leading the "What Is Democracy (To You)?" project, which explores how people in Germany think about democracy. More info on the project here.

News

New Working Paper from the "What Is Democracy (To You)?" project
Boese-Schlosser, V.A., Meißner, D., Ziblatt, D.. Voters’ Orientations Towards Democracy: A New Conceptual Framework. WZB WAVES Discussion Paper SPV 2026-701

New Publication
Lindberg, S.I., Lundstedt, M., Wiebrecht, F., Boese-Schlosser, V.A., Morrison, K., Natsika, N., & Sato, Y. (Forthcoming). Review Article: Impact of democracy on economic, human, and societal development. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Great Kick-Off Workshop for my Research Group Waves of Regime Transformation!

From 11 to 12 May, 2026, we brought together researchers working on democracy, autocratisation, political discourse and regime change for a kickoff workshop at the WZB. Over two days, we discussed the conceptual foundations of regime transformation, the dynamics of democratization and autocratization, the role of democratic Zeitgeist, and the different drivers behind political waves. The workshop was designed as a collective thinking exercise, feeding directly into the project’s work packages and helping shape the next steps of WAVES.
Picture
Copyright: WZB/Kathrin Kliss

Recent Publications

Research Articles
Other Publications
Working Paper

Media Outreach

  • Wirtschaftsstarke Demokratien: Vertrauen in das bessere System lohnt sich. Tagesspiegel article on our democracy and growth study (3.11.2023, in German) available here
  • Interview with Neugier genügt/WDR (04.04.2023, in German) available here
  • Interview with fluter (05.08.2022, in German) available here: www.fluter.de/wie-demokratisch-ist-die-welt-podcast
  • Interview with Aus Kultur und Sozialwissenschaften/Deutschlandfunk (28.07.2022, in German) available here