Paulina Fröhlich

Alumna

Paulina Fröhlich was Deputy Managing Director and responsible for the focus area “Resilient Democracy” at Das Progressive Zentrum. There she led the democracy conference “Innocracy” designed dialogue and discourse spaces, and co-authored studies and discussion papers such as The Disregarded. A study on the importance of regional perspectives for the great transformation (2022) and Democratising Democracy: No Transformation without Democratisation (2021). After studying geography, Islamic studies and water management, Paulina, together with others, founded the Kleiner Fünf initiative, which supported people in taking action against right-wing populism with the help of “radical politeness.” In 2020, Capital magazine listed Paulina as TOP40under40 in the “Society and Science” category. As a commentator on political events, she was often heard on Deutschlandfunk Kultur’s lunchtime programme and regularly on Radio3’s “Die Frage des Tages.” In the winter semester 22/23, Paulina taught as a guest lecturer at the University of the Arts. In 2023, she was appointed to the Forum #Zukunftsstrategie at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Publications

How to Sell Democracy Online (Fast)

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We investigated how political actors communicate on TikTok and Instagram – and asked young people for their opinions.

POV: Election Campaign

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Our study examines which communication styles, topics, and tones were at the center of the 2025 federal election campaign’s hot phase on social media.

The Disregarded

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A study on the importance of regional perspectives for the great transformation

Projects

Innocracy

European civil-society conference that explores innovation in democracies
talking progress podcast header

Talking Progress

The podcast for progressive politics

Countering Populism in Public Space

For confident handling of anti-democratic populism in public space

Daring New Spaces

A project developing ideas to foster a European public sphere

We develop and debate progressive ideas and bring together leading actors who turn thoughts into action. Our think tank’s goal: making the just transformation a reality. ▸ Learn more