How do people stop believing in democracy? A political scientist from FSV UK examines what shapes our values
Dr. Klára Kosová from the Institute of International Studies FSV UK combines political science, cognitive linguistics and neuroscience in her research, observing how the values that hold democracy together are formed in people’s minds. Her dissertation, awarded cum laude at the University of Groningen, shows that elections alone are not enough — what is crucial is how each of us approaches democracy. “I don’t want to do science just for the sake of science. I want it to have a real impact — so that people can recognize authoritarian tendencies and say for themselves that this is not the path they want to take,” she says in the interview.
Her research focuses primarily on democratic legitimacy — how people perceive democracy as a legitimate or illegitimate form of government and what shapes their attitudes. “I’m interested in when people’s value systems start to change and why some attitudes persist over the long term. The transition to democracy is not just an institutional issue — the key is for people’s attitudes to change as well, which doesn’t happen overnight,” she describes. “That’s why I’m looking at how these changes happen and why some people find populist or authoritarian leaders attractive while others don’t,” she adds.
In her dissertation, she analyzed roughly three thousand newspaper articles about the protests in Bulgaria from 2020 and 2021. She focused on how the media shapes the idea of democratic legitimacy — specifically through metaphors. “We often use metaphors unconsciously. They are part of our thought patterns and to some extent reflect how we think about things, although we sometimes use them strategically,” she explains.
The analysis shows that democracy in the Bulgarian public sphere is often understood primarily procedurally: that is, as a system in which elections are held, after which the winner must be respected. But the fact that elected representatives then cease to uphold liberal values is no longer perceived by the public as a problem. “I feel that, compared to the 1990s, the emphasis on liberal values that are naturally associated with democracy — for example, equality or the protection of rights — is disappearing. Democracy is being reduced to elections, and its value base is being weakened,” she says.
She is now following up on these topics in the TWIN4DEM project, which examines the gradual weakening of democracy and tries to identify early warning signals using large language models: “Such a tool could prevent a situation where democratic institutions erode as far as they have in Hungary, for example.” She has also recently joined the Peace Research Center Prague team, led by Assoc. Prof. Michal Smetana, as part of the INTERFER project focused on foreign interference.
Doctorate under dual supervision
She began to consider an academic career during her Master’s degree, when she spent three months in an archive in Bulgaria. She completed her doctoral studies under dual supervision (the so-called cottutele) at Charles University and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. While at the Institute of International Studies FSV UK, she perceived clearly defined study requirements, mandatory courses and publication activities, in the Netherlands the university offered her more freedom. “I only documented what I had completed, and the university assessed whether it corresponded to my specialization. In the Czech environment, it was more demanding for me that I had to fulfill some time-consuming duties in addition to other requirements,” she describes.
She also perceived a fundamental difference in her approach to research. “They immediately told me: ‘The topic is good, but we want to see the methodology. Everything will depend on that.’ They surprised me a bit because I thought it would still be developing. But in the end, it helped me think about research differently. Thanks to the combination of both approaches, I managed to write the dissertation in the form it has today,” she says.
She received the cum laude award for her dissertation, as the first student without Dutch citizenship at the Faculty of Arts in Groningen. The awarding process is extremely strict: the proposal must be approved by an internal committee, the faculty management, and two anonymous external opponents, and the committee must also confirm it during the defense itself.
Until the last moment, Dr. Kosová had no idea that she could actually be in the running for the award. “I went to the defense thinking that my main goal was to succeed. I had no idea that cum laude was at stake. When I heard it, I was really surprised,” she says. For her, it was more important what the award symbolized. “During your doctorate, you often doubt whether what you are doing makes sense. For me, it was a strong confirmation that it does — and that it is worth continuing.”
Different approaches to motherhood
Another significant experience for her was how differently the Czech and Dutch academic environments approach parenthood. She completed her doctorate with two children — and while she encountered discouraging reactions in the Czech Republic, in the Netherlands she experienced the opposite approach. “Some colleagues here told me that I should have thought better of getting pregnant. At that stage, you are insecure and comments like that make you very afraid.”
In contrast, at the University of Groningen, she had to deal mainly with practicalities. “They suggested that they wouldn’t require anything for the first six months after the baby was born and that I would gradually return to work depending on how I felt. I also noticed a difference in the normal functioning of the university — for example, in the availability of baby-changing tables or in the fact that some conferences automatically include childcare,” she says. “I see the difference mainly in how they think about parenting in general. They are significantly more accommodating,” she adds.
She is now supported with childcare by the Martina Roeselova Memorial Fellowship, which she received last year. According to her, similar forms of support are extremely important in the Czech environment. “At the beginning of a scientific career, you often cannot afford private childcare. Any financial support that allows for at least partial childcare is a huge help,” she says. “Support should not only be directed at mothers, but also at fathers who want to combine childcare with scientific work,” she emphasizes.
Humanities and Technology
Her studies in the Netherlands inspired her to found the Center for Digital Humanities Integration at the Institute of International Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Charles University, which combines social sciences with computational methods and work with big data. “Since I was researching media discourse, the university offered me a position at the Center for Digital Humanities there. This allowed me to better process a large number of articles, because as a human being, you are not able to capture some things as efficiently,” she explains.
After returning to Prague, she discovered that her colleagues were also thinking the same way. “My colleague Jiří Kocián approached me and said that he wanted to start something similar at the faculty and asked if I would be interested in getting involved. I replied that I wanted to tell him exactly the same thing,” she laughs.
The center now also offers a certified program for students. In the first semester, they learn the basics of methods in the so-called digital humanities and work in the R programming language, and in the second semester, they move on to machine learning. According to her, the feedback has been very good so far. “Doctoral students use these methods directly in their research, but the program is also of great benefit to Master’s students who are heading outside of academia. They learn to work with data and databases, which are skills that can also be very useful in the private sector,” she says. “At the same time, we encourage them to think outside the traditional framework of social sciences and to be able to look at problems from a different angle,” she adds.
Science that has an impact
She has long been most attracted to the topic of democratic resilience. At a time when, according to her, the fragility of liberal democratic institutions is becoming apparent all over the world, she considers it essential to think about how to strengthen the values upholding democracy in people and in society.
“Perhaps also because I am a mother of two children, I take this topic very personally. I want the environment in which they will grow up to be safe. We do not yet have a better alternative than liberal democracy. That is why I want to contribute to its values truly taking root in society,” she emphasizes. “I would like people to be able to recognize authoritarian tendencies and say for themselves that this is not the path they want to take. I do not want to do science just for the sake of science — I want it to have a real impact,” she concludes.
Dr. Klára Kosová works at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. Her research focuses on democratic legitimacy, authoritarian tendencies and democratic resilience, using cognitive-linguistic methods. Her dissertation focused on the construction of democratic legitimacy in media discourse in Bulgaria. She is a co-founder of the Center for Digital Humanities Integration and also participates in the international project TWIN4DEM. She is currently working at the Peace Research Center Prague within the INTERFER project focused on foreign interference.
