Peer-reviewed journal articles

1. Poljak, Ž. (2025). Give the media what they need: Negativity as a media access tool for politicians. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 30(3): 727-751. 10.1177/19401612241234861

2. Poljak, Ž. & Russell, A. (2025). All Talk, No Action? Politicians’ Agenda Responsiveness to Citizens’ Engagement on Social Media. Political Research Quarterly, 78(2), 495–508. 10.1177/10659129241309296

3. Beyers, J., Poljak, Ž. & De Mulder, A. (2025). Navigating Policy Legitimacy: The Distributive and Procedural Justice of Road Transport Pricing Schemes. Interest Groups & Advocacy. 10.1057/s41309-025-00257-7

4. Poljak, Ž. (2025). From Speech to Feed: How Parliamentary Debates Shape Party Agendas on Social Media. Swiss Political Science Review, 31(1): 102-121. 10.1111/spsr.12634

5. van Dijk, R. & Poljak, Ž. (2025). Interrupting the Interruptions: How Women Transform the Parliamentary Debate. Parliamentary Affairs. 10.1093/pa/gsaf040

6. De Mulder, A., Gevers, I. & Poljak, Ž. (2025). Who Deserves Representation, and When?. Political Studies. 10.1177/00323217251325548

7. Poljak, Ž. (2025). Let’s Talk About Something Else: How Cabinet Members Divert Issue Attention in Answers to Parliamentary Questions. The Journal of Legislative Studies, The Journal of Legislative Studies, 31(4), 1188-1211. 10.1080/13572334.2024.2411479

8. Poljak, Ž. & Seeberg, H. B. (2024). Attacks and Issue Competition: Do Parties Attack based on Issue Salience or Ownership. Political Communication, 41(2), 269–289. 10.1080/10584609.2023.2264224

9. Poljak, Ž. & Walter, A. S. (2024). Parties’ parliamentary attack behaviour throughout the electoral cycle. Party Politics, 30(5):920–933. 10.1177/13540688231188476

10. Poljak, Ž. (2023). The Impact of Public Approval on the Use of Negativity Throughout the Electoral cycle. West European Politics, 46(5), 947-970. 10.1080/01402382.2022.2095487

11. Poljak, Ž. (2023). Parties’ Attack Behaviour in Parliaments: Who Attacks Whom and When. European Journal of Political Research, 62(3), 903-923. 10.1111/1475-6765.12542

12. Poljak, Ž. (2023). Negative Interplay between Cabinet and Opposition Agendas: Evidence from Croatia. Parliamentary Affairs, 76(3), 621-640. 10.1093/pa/gsab067

13. Poljak, Ž. (2022). The Role of Gender in Parliamentary Attacks and Incivility. Politics and Governance, 10(4), 286–298. 10.17645/pag.v10i4.5718

14. Poljak, Ž. (2018). Advocacy Coalitions in Transport Policy: A Case of Rail Sector in Croatia. Central European Journal of Public Policy, 12(1), 41-56. 10.2478/cejpp-2018-0002

Book chapters 

1. Poljak, Ž. & Van Aelst, P. (2024). Comparing political communication in election and routine times. In Lilleker, D. et al. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning. 10.4324/9781003333326-7

2. Walter, A. S. & Poljak, Ž. (2023). Incivility from the UK Prime Minister’s Dispatch Box. In Feldman, O. (ed.) Political Debasement. 10.1007/978-981-99-0467-9_4

University Courses

• Comparative Politics at the University of Antwerp (Spring 25)

  • Course leader; Bachelor level; 185 students

• Research Methodology at the University of Antwerp (Winter 23/Spring 24)

  • Assistant; Bachelor level; 10 students

• Research Design Seminar at the University of Antwerp (Spring 22)

  • Assistant; Master level; 36 students

Thesis supervision

• I have supervised three master theses at the University of Antwerp, all of which were successfully defended:

  • Manon Deknudt - The populist communication style of far-left and right-wing European parties: A quantitative content analysis of the use of populist communication frames on Facebook

  • Jelle Muraille - The Impact of Negative Communication on User Engagement in Political Social Media

  • Jaro Michiels - Who Speaks for the Kids? Representative Claims About Young People on Social Media in Flanders

•  I was co-assessor of four additional theses at the University of Antwerp

Guest lectures

• University of Antwerp (Political Communication class 2025; Politics and Rhetoric class, 2023; 2024)

• Université libre de Bruxelles (Political Communication and Marketing class, 2024)

• University of Zagreb (Political Decision-Making class, 2019)

Television

• ”X-ray of the Croatian parliamentary year” – RTL Television (Croatia; 2023; link)

• “Here is which Croatian prime minister is the most negative” – N1 Television (Croatia; 2022; link)

• “Which prime minister communicated the most negatively?” – RTL Television (Croatia; 2022; link)

News portals

• “More women in parliament leads to fewer interruptions” - Het Laatste Nieuws (Belgium; 2025; link)

• “More women in parliament, more civil debates” - Telegram.hr (Croatia; 2025; link)

• “How social media influences politicians’ agendas” - Mediapunt Vlaanderen (Belgium; 2025; link)

• “Why are politicians so negative? (Hint: It’s a media problem)” - Nieman Journalism Lab (United States; 2024; link)

• “Young analysts point out why Trump won” – Telegram.hr (Croatia; 2024; link)

• “Why do parties attack each other?” – Mediapunt Vlaanderen (Belgium; 2024; link)

• “It is not true that minority governments are necessarily bad. Research shows the opposite” – Telegram.hr (Croatia; 2024; link)

• “Croatian politicians are more negative than Western ones, men are more rude than women” - Varazdinske-vijesti.hr (Croatia; 2022; link)

• “Why do some politicians communicate negatively and others do not?” – Srednja.hr (Croatia; 2022; link)

Print newspapers

•  “It is realistic to expect that populism dominates” – Glas Slavonije (Croatia; 2024; link)

•  “How sick does politics make us?” – De Standaard (Belgium; 2023; link)

Podcasts

• “Impact of Croatian Presidential elections on the Western Balkans” - Seriously Balkans - Episode 12 (2025; link)

• “How does gender influence political attacks?” - Let’s Talk About Politics – Episode 2 (2023; link)

Columns

• “Groen's struggle with the climate issue” - Samenleving & Politiek (Belgium; 2024; link)

Public lectures

• “Negative Behavior Among Politicians” - The Utrecht Psychology Association Alcmaeon (Belgium; 2025; link)

• “Negative Campaigning during the 2024 US Presidential Election” - American Election Night at the University of Antwerp (Belgium; 2024; link)

Science fairs

• “​The News Behind The Scenes” - NerdLand (Belgium; 2023; link)

• “Negativity in The Belgian Parliament” - Expedition Social Sciences (Belgium; 2022; link)

You can view my full CV here.