Esther Kreider-Verhalle

Esther Kreider-Verhalle is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the New School for Social Research. Prior to her studies at The New School, she worked for over ten years as a foreign correspondent for Dutch and Belgian public media and a Dutch national newspaper. Over the second half of the 1990s she was based in Moscow, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union. In 2001 she moved to New York City to cover the United States, mainly for Dutch and Belgian public radio.

Esther holds an M.A. in Russia Studies from the University of Amsterdam and an M.A. in Media Studies from the New School for General Studies. Her interests include the sociology of media, political sociology, and Russian studies.

In her dissertation she is researching democratic ideas and practices in Russian society. By analyzing political discussion in Russian (online) media, she focuses on the coexistence of democratic aspects of Russian political culture and authoritarian political institutions.