Assistant Professor, Comparative Politics

Ph.D. European University Institute, Italy
Master of Research European University Institute, Italy
M.A. University of Florence, Italy
B.A. University of Florence, Italy

Office:听Kaletsch Campus, Office 3
Phone: +41 91 986 53 33
Email: evolpi@fus.edu

Elisa Volpi received her Ph.D. from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) in 2019. Her dissertation was awarded the prestigious ECPR Jean Blondel Ph.D. Prize in 2020. Before joining Franklin, she was post-doctoral researcher at the University of Geneva (2018-2022), where she also coordinated the doctoral program in political science.

Her main research interests are political elites and political parties that she studies with a comparative approach, using historical techniques and experimental designs.

Elisa Volpi participated in several international conferences and she was invited to give talks at leading foreign universities. Her work has been published in prominent peer-reviewed journals, such as "European Journal of Political Research", "Party Politics" and "Parliamentary Affairs".

She is currently working on a project in collaboration with the University of Geneva on citizens鈥 and elites鈥 perception of economic inequality. She is also part of an international project (including the Swiss universities of Geneva and Lausanne) on how elected politicians perceive the public opinion and relate to the inputs coming from it. In the framework of this project, Elisa Volpi interviewed several Swiss national legislators.

Professional Experience

Post-doctoral researcher and lecturer, University of Geneva, Switzerland (2018 鈥 2022)

Coordinator of the doctoral program in Political Science for Western Switzerland, Confe虂rence Universitaire de Suisse Occidentale (CUSO) (2021-2022)

Invited Lecturer, University of Lucerne (2018 and 2022)

Visiting Scholar, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy (2021-2022)

Visiting Researcher, Universit茅 Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium (2017)

2024-2025 Courses

POL 100 Introduction to Political Science FALL 2024
POL 254 Designing Political Representation FALL 2024
POL 497 Readings and Methods in Political Science and International Relations FALL 2024
POL 100 Introduction to Political Science SPRING 2025
POL 231T The Politics of Organized Crime (Sicily) SPRING 2025
SEM 372 Unveiling Power: Exploring the Intersection of Media and Politics (Honors Seminar) SPRING 2025

Areas of Research:

Elisa Volpi鈥檚 primary research interests are political elites and their attitudes and behavior. Her work lies at the intersection between legislative studies, party politics, and political economy. In particular, during her Ph.D., she studied the determinants of legislative party switching. Later, during her post-doc, she focused on elites' perceptions of economic inequality. Methodologically, she combines historical and comparative analysis with experimental research.

Publications:

Peer-reviewed:

Ceron, Andrea and听Elisa Volpi听(2022). "How do parties react to defections? Electoral strategies after a valence loss". In:听European Journal of Political Research,.听

Ceron, Andrea and听Elisa Volpi听(2021). "Breakups hurt: Party switching and perceived proximity between politicians and their party". In:听Party Politics,Volume 27, Issue 4, Pages 656-666,听.

Volpi, Elisa听(2019). "Ideology and party switching: A comparison of 12 West European countries". In听Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 72, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 1鈥20,听. Article selected as Editor鈥檚 Choice for the issue.

Book chapters:

Volpi, Elisa,听Lorenzo Cicchi and Tobias Widmann (in press). "Pandemic frames: How is the European Union narrated by Italian (populist) parties during Covid-19鈥檚 first wave in Italy" in听Populism in Contemporary Italian Politics: Actors and Processes in Times of Crisis, Edited by: Calossi, Enrico and Paola Imperatore. Pisa University Press.

Other:

Andrea Ceron and Elisa Volpi. "Don't sweep it under the carpet! How parties react to defections"
(), The Loop, April 2022.

Elisa Volpi. "The so-called crisis of political parties is, in fact, evidence of their adaption. Here's why"
(), The Loop, January 2021.

Andrea Ceron and Elisa Volpi. "Non tutte le scissioni vengono per nuocere. Vedi il caso Pd-Iv"
(), Il Foglio, 21 February 2020

Elisa Volpi. "Il trasformismo? Si ferma con i regolamenti parlamentari"
(), LaVoce.info, 12 June 2018

Elisa Volpi. "Elezioni Regionali in Piemonte: vittoria del centrosinistra o disfatta del centrodestra?"
(), Centro Italiano di Studi Elettorali, 28 May 2014

Awards and Honors:

"5 Women for Restarting", award by the regional government of Tuscany to "five women who distinguished themselves for their achievements and contributions to their fields and the society" (03/2021)

for best thesis (2020)听

Other:

Current projects:

Inequality in the Mind, with Prof. Nathalie Giger, University of Geneva

Rep Project, with Prof. Fr茅d茅ric Varone (University of Geneva) and Prof. Pirmin Bundi (University of Lausanne)

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