re:constitution
2026/ 2027

Ancuța Hansen

Drawing the Line: Distinguishing Assistance, Influence, and Interference in European Elections

A woman with short light brown hair in wearing a navy blue suit and diamond earrings
(c) Antonia Horghidan

Ancuța (Anna) Hansen is an international affairs expert specializing in democratic governance, elections, and stabilization in developing and conflict-affected countries. She has held field-based leadership roles with the National Democratic Institute, Democracy International, and the International Republican Institute, and her work experience spans Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Currently, she directs Perseveras Consulting, an international advisory firm delivering strategic advice, project management solutions, and capacity-building programs to purpose-driven organizations, and serves as Vice President for Strategy at the Romanian AER Civic Association. She actively researches normative and structural shifts in international election observation, foreign electoral interference, the geopolitics of small states, and the effects of gender backlash on women's political participation. As a multilingual practitioner and researcher (English, French, Spanish, Romanian), she develops context-driven strategies that empower political actors, civic leaders, and organizations in complex political landscapes to build resilience, communicate strategically, and generate public value. Anna has authored numerous analyses and reports, with commentary in outlets including the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the Lowy Institute, DevPolicy, Policy Forum, The Fulcrum, and Republica.

Drawing the Line: Distinguishing Assistance, Influence, and Interference in European Elections

Foreign involvement in elections is a defining challenge for democracy, yet the analytical landscape remains fragmented. Existing efforts focus heavily on covert interference, while transparent foreign electoral assistance is under-researched or conflated with partisan influence. Consequently, deceptive rhetoric increasingly frames legitimate democratic support as "regime change." The recent weaponization of foreign interference claims in Europe and elsewhere has made it clear that a shared understanding of the criteria is essential. Without it, public trust erodes, and lawful international cooperation is delegitimized. In a fragmenting world order and a shifting normative space for election-related cooperation, it is vital not only to strengthen compliance with international standards but also to socialize those standards to build societal resilience against instrumentalization. This project develops the Foreign Electoral Involvement Observatory (FEIO) framework to systematically document and classify foreign involvement, drawing on academic literature and practitioner insights. This framework will be piloted in select European re:constitution - Call for Applications | TRACK 2 | re:constitution Fellowship 2026-27: Hansen, Ancuta elections to create a body of work that enables transparent, evidence-based distinctions among assistance, influence, and interference, using replicable, rule-of-law-aligned coding rules. Through a policy paper and a how-to brief, FEIO seeks to enhance analytical clarity and equip practitioners with practical tools to counter genuine interference while safeguarding accountable democratic assistance.

Alle Fellows