About
I am a postdoctoral researcher funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and hosted by the Chair of Comparative Political Science at LMU Munich (Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft).
My research lies at the intersection of political communication and democratization studies. I examine how opposition forces and autocratic actors use social media to influence public discourse and mobilize citizens in non-democratic contexts. Methodologically, I draw on diverse quantitative approaches, including reduced-form econometrics, automated text analysis, and multivariate techniques for survey analysis.
My current Humboldt project conducts a systematic, longitudinal analysis of pro-Kremlin digital propaganda, applying computational methods to a large-scale social media dataset. It examines how domestic narratives respond to shifting political conditions and how selected narratives are adapted to resonate with international audiences.
Research interests
- Political communication and digital propaganda
- Democratization and authoritarian politics
- Political participation and protest mobilization
- Computational text analysis and quantitative methods
Publications
Grechanaya, T. (2026). Social media and protest dynamics in autocracy: evidence from the 2020 Belarusian protests. Post-Soviet Affairs, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2026.2650068
Ceron, A., Scopelliti, A., & Grechanaya, T. (2025). Coalition formation, policy compromises and blame sharing: the strategic use of appeals for responsibility in Italian investiture debates. South European Society and Politics, 30(3), 387–411.
Calatzi, D., Scopelliti, A., & Grechanaya, T. (forthcoming). The politics of crises in Italy. Italian Political Science Review.
Ceron, A., & Grechanaya, T. (2024). Patriotism and national symbols in Russian and Ukrainian elections. Politics and Governance.
Balaban, D., Macková, A., Burai, K., Gërguri, D., & Grechanaya, T. (2024). The relationship between topics, negativity, and user engagement in election campaigns on Facebook. Politics and Governance.
Grechanaya, T. (2022). Social media and autocracy. In A. Ceron (Ed.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics (pp. 42–46). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Grechanaya, T. (2022). Censorship online. In A. Ceron (Ed.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Technology and Politics (pp. 190–192). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.