{"id":48,"date":"2025-03-02T19:49:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-02T19:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/?page_id=48"},"modified":"2025-09-06T08:28:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T08:28:18","slug":"who-we-are","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/?page_id=48","title":{"rendered":"Who we are"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><strong>Vera Tika<\/strong><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Founder &amp; Executive Director<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"163\" class=\"wp-image-170\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pranvera-photo.jpeg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pranvera-photo.jpeg 1080w, https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pranvera-photo-276x300.jpeg 276w, https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pranvera-photo-941x1024.jpeg 941w, https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pranvera-photo-768x836.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pranvera-photo-993x1080.jpeg 993w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Vera Tika is a political scientist whose research investigates the structural and discursive transformations of contemporary democracy, with a particular emphasis on far-right extremism, populist mobilizations, and the erosion of liberal democratic norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her scholarly work explores how exclusionary ideologies\u2014rooted in xenophobia, nationalism, and anti-pluralism\u2014become embedded within mainstream politics and normalized through both institutional processes and affective public discourse. She analyses the evolving interplay between far-right actors, populist narratives, and systemic democratic decline, with particular attention to their manifestations in Southern Europe and the Western Balkans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her research further interrogates the role of hate speech, disinformation, and algorithmically-amplified propaganda in shaping collective identities and fueling socio-political polarization, both online and offline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vera holds degrees in&nbsp;<strong>Political Science and History<\/strong>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<strong>Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences<\/strong>. Her work adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from political theory, democratic studies, and critical discourse analysis to examine how illiberalism proliferates in times of perceived crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her academic trajectory is grounded in a commitment to documenting and analysing the cultural, institutional, and communicative mechanisms through which democratic space contracts and authoritarian tendencies take root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Her voice is present in European policy forums, academic conferences, and the media \u2014 always calling attention to the deep societal costs of hate and the urgent need for collective, democratic response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She believes that&nbsp;<strong>defending democracy means more than resisting authoritarianism<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 it means cultivating belonging, amplifying marginalized voices, and creating space for people to reclaim agency.<br>Through 2Act4, she works to turn that belief into action \u2014 every single day. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"wp-image-169\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1741561927370.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1741561927370.jpg 400w, https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1741561927370-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/2act4.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1741561927370-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><strong>Nikos Gaitenidis<\/strong>, Co-founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Graduated from the Department of International and European, Political and Economic Studies of the University of Macedonia. He completed postgraduate studies in European Law at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He received his doctorate degree in 2015 from the Department of International and European Studies of the University of Macedonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><\/summary>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<p>He was an associate of the Centre of International and European Economic Law, responsible for the implementation of several research and institution building programs (2016 \u2013 2021). He has also provided scientific services for the Greek Ministry of Justice (2020) and the Labor Institute of GSEE (2021 \u2013 2023). He has managed successfully and participated as an expert in several European funded projects for many academic and research institutions (Erasmus+, Jean Monnet, JUSTICE, Civil Justice, Europeaid, Twinning etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He had taught courses on human rights and EU studies at the University of Macedonia, Panteion University, the Democretus University and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His research interests and publications focus on the protection of human rights in Europe, social and cultural rights, equality and anti-discrimination policies, European Union integration and minority protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vera Tika Founder &amp; Executive Director Vera Tika is a political scientist whose research investigates the structural and discursive transformations of contemporary democracy, with a particular emphasis on far-right extremism, populist mobilizations, and the erosion of liberal democratic norms. Her scholarly work explores how exclusionary ideologies\u2014rooted in xenophobia, nationalism, and anti-pluralism\u2014become embedded within mainstream politics [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-48","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who we are - 2Act4<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/2act4.gr\/?page_id=48\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who we are - 2Act4\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vera Tika Founder &amp; Executive Director Vera Tika is a political scientist whose research investigates the structural and discursive transformations of contemporary democracy, with a particular emphasis on far-right extremism, populist mobilizations, and the erosion of liberal democratic norms. 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