Mathias Falkvist wins the 2025 Rudolf Wildenmann Prize

Congratulations to Mathias Falkvist on winning the 2025 Rudolf Wildenmann Prize for his Paper, Challenging Undemocratic Actions: When are Opposition Persuasion Attempts Successful?, presented at our 2025 Joint Sessions of Workshops.

This annual prize is awarded to an early career scholar in recognition of an outstanding Paper presented at our Joint Sessions of Workshops.

The winning paper was selected by the jury based on four criteria: originality, clear methodology, relevance of contribution to the field, and clarity of structure.

Our winner

Mathias Falkvist is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University. His doctoral dissertation, Politics of Democratic Backsliding, examines how incumbents and opposition parties attempt to affect voters' approval of democratic violations. A particular focus of his research is how opposition parties may be more effective at curbing democratic backsliding, idealistically aiming to provide practical guidance in defence of democracy.

In his own words

I’m very grateful and honoured to receive the Rudolf Wildenmann Prize. The workshop format at ECPR Joint Sessions was a great way to get feedback, learn from, and connect with scholars from elsewhere. The feedback I received greatly enhanced the paper.

Jury members

Christian Haerpfer ECPR Executive Committee Member, University of Vienna (Jury Chair)
David Farrell University College Dublin, former Chair of the ECPR Executive Committee
Nicole Curato University of Birmingham, EJPR
Theofanis Exadaktylos ECPR Official Representative for the University of Surrey, EPSR
Zeynep Gülsah Capan University of Erfurt, EJIR
Marta Lorimer Cardiff University, PRX