Éva Bördős (M.A.)

Profile

Éva Bördős is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Potsdam, supervised by Prof. Fabian Schuppert and Prof. Jane Mansbridge. Her research focuses on citizen participation and deliberation in processes of democratic and constitutional reform, with a particular interest in the relationship between participatory processes and established political institutions. She examines how citizen participation can contribute to the legitimacy and quality of major institutional reforms, and the conditions under which the outcomes of participatory processes translate into political and institutional change.
Alongside her academic work, Éva has nearly two decades of professional experience spanning democratic governance, citizen engagement, public administration, diplomacy, international cooperation, and civil society. In recent years, she has designed, implemented, and advised deliberative processes across Central and Eastern Europe and neighbouring regions, working with public institutions, civil society organisations, and international organisations including the Council of Europe and the OSCE in Albania. Her work has included citizens’ assemblies and other deliberative processes in Hungary, Ukraine, Albania, and Moldova, as well as capacity building for public officials and practitioners across the region.
Éva was an Eisenhower Global Fellow in 2025 and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania in 2026. She also teaches deliberative democracy at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest. She holds degrees in law from ELTE and in Political Science from Central European University.
Her broader research interests include deliberative democracy, democratic innovations, citizen participation, constitution-making, democratic reform, political equality, and the institutionalisation of participatory governance.

Publications

Bördős, É. (2026). “Rebuilding Democracy: Why Large-Scale Reform Requires a New Institutional Model.” Perry World House, University of Pennsylvania.
https://perryworldhouse.upenn.edu/news-and-insight/rebuilding-democracy-why-large-scale-reform-requires-a-new-institutional-model/