TOMILA LANKINA 

Tomila Lankina is a leading scholar of comparative politics, democracy, and authoritarianism, with a distinguished record of research on political development in Russia, Eastern Europe, and beyond. She is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she specialises in the study of historical legacies, regime dynamics, and social foundations of democracy.

Her research bridges history, sociology, and political science to explore how long-term structural and cultural factors shape patterns of democratic resilience and authoritarian persistence. Lankina is the author of The Estate Origins of Democracy in Russia: From Imperial Bourgeoisie to Post-Communist Middle Class (Cambridge University Press, 2022), a landmark study tracing the historical roots of democratic institutions and civic life. Her work has also advanced understanding of protest mobilisation, digital activism, and the mechanisms of authoritarian control in Russia and other post-Soviet states.

Over the course of her career, she has published extensively in leading academic journals and has been actively engaged in debates on democracy promotion and governance. 

In the 2024-2025 academic year, she volunteered to teach a politics course at the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine and continues to supervise and mentor Ukrainian students.

For the 2025-2026 academic year, she has been elected Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In 2025, she also received the prestigious Einstein Foundation Fellowship. She will be working on a research project with Professor Alexander Libman at the Freie Universität Berlin as part of the multi-year Fellowship and will continue to examine grassroots agency under authoritarian rule and the enduring impact of historical legacies on contemporary politics.