Silvia von Steinsdorff is Professor of Comparative Democracy Studies and the Political Systems of Eastern Europe at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Since 2019, together with Prof. Dr. Anna-Bettina Kaiser from the Faculty of Law, she has also been leading Integrative Research Institute Law & Society (LSI) at the Humboldt University and is Vice-Dean for International Affairs of the Faculty of Cultural, Social and Educational Sciences (KSBF).
Her research focuses on the interdisciplinary overlaps between law and politics, including constitutional courts and constitutional politics. She also conducts research on democratisation and autocratisation processes, mainly in Eastern Europe and Turkey.
Wherever the democratic foundations of social coexistence are called into question, this begins with attacks against an independent judiciary and other important guarantees of the rule of law. The protection of the rule of law is therefore a central component in the - preventive - fight against de-democratisation and re-autocratisation.
