My research is located in the field of comparative politics with a particular focus on party competition, democratic governance and voting. The aim of my research agenda is to understand how societal and economic transformations such as rising social inequality, individualization and rising political distrust shape political competition. Moreover, I want to shed light on the consequences party system transformations for liberal democracy and to contribute to a better understanding under which conditions challenger parties influence democratic governance and its institutions.
Economic change, social status and voting behavior
In several projects, I work on the question how macroeconomic phenomena, such as inflation or rising inequality shape voters' perceptions of their social status and impacts their voting behavior. This work particularly focuses on how changing macroeconomic conditions create status anxiety, and how political parties, and radical right parties in particularly, strategically address these status anxieties.
The threat of social decline: Income inequality and radical right support (with David Weisstanner) [publication]
The electoral appeal of symbolic class signalling through cultural consumption (with David Weisstanner) [publication]
Does symbolic representation through class signalling appeal to voters? Evidence from a conjoint experiment (with David Weisstanner) [Working Paper Series]
How inflations shifts politics towards the right (with David Weisstanner) [conference paper]
Post Democracy: The Long-Run Political Consequences of Public Service Deprivation (with Rahel Freiburghaus, Victora A. Haerter, and David Weisstanner) [work in progress]
How challenges to liberal democracy shape party competition
In various parts of my work I analyze how challenges to established democracies, such as the pandemic, rising polarization and democratic backsliding, reshape party competition. Together with colleagues at the University of Zurich, I analyze how political parties and voters understand competing conceptions of democracy, which factors shift these understandings, and how questions of democratic governance become politicized by different actors. Furthermore, in collaboration with colleagues at Leuphana University of Lueneburg and University of Hamburg, I investigate how younger and older voters structure and interpret the political space.Democracy challenged? How different party families politicize different democratic principles (with Theresa Gessler, Tarik Abou-Chadi and Lucas Leemann) [publication]
Democracy in times of the pandemic: Explaining the variation of public health policies against COVID-19 across European democracies (with Palmo Brunner, Romane Loviat, Tarik Abou-Chadi, Lucas Leemann, Andreas Glaser and Daniel Kübler) [publication]
Strategy, Ideology, and Opportunity: When Political Parties Support Direct Democracy (with Lucas Leemann) [under review]
Affective polarisation and the support for various forms of governance (with Ivo Bantel and Lucas Leemann) [under review]
Young and old voters’ perceptions of the political party landscape (with Gefjon Off and Mathis Brinkmann) [work in progress]
Corruption, clientelism and party competition
Corruption and clientelism are prevalent in many European democracies. In my research, I explore the impact of corruption and clientelism on party competition from three different angles. First, corruption influences the playing field for party competition and can thus influence political parties in their strategic choices. Second, corruption is a source of political dissatisfaction and distrust and can thus influence voting decisions. Finally, corruption and the fight against it is a political issue itself that can be politicized by different actors for different reasons and with different implications for party competition and democracy.
Corruption and Electoral Support for New Political Parties in Central and Eastern Europe. [publication]
Politicizing corruption within and beyond the populist divide. [publication]
Populism and Corruption [book chapter]
The nature of party-voter linkages and party position change in Europe (with Jelle Koedam). [working paper]
Party competition in Central and Eastern Europe
Much of my previous work focuses on party competition in Central and Eastern Europe, where electoral volatility is high and the success of new political parties is common. In both my monograph published with Oxford University Press and in several related articles, I examine centrist anti-establishment parties (CAPs), which constitute the most successful group of new political parties. These parties mainly emerge in contexts of high electoral volatility and widespread dissatisfaction with mainstream politics. CAPs, such as Bulgaria’s GERB, Slovakia’s OL’aNO, and the Czech ANO, challenge established parties through anti-corruption and anti-elite rhetoric without appealing to radical ideological positions. While they often achieve significant electoral success and government participation, their survival beyond a single election is rare, as their initial appeal relies on novelty. My work shows that long-term persistence requires CAPs to adopt new strategies while navigating the constraints posed by ideologically diverse electorates.
Centrist Anti-Establishment Parties and their Struggle for Survival [Monograph]
Centrist Anti-Establishment Parties and Their Protest Voters: More Than a Superficial Romance? [publication]
Assessing the diversity of anti-establishment and populist politics in Central and Eastern Europe. (with Bartek Pytlas and Kevin Deegan-Krause). [publication]
Expert survey on ‘Party Claims on Corruption and Anti-Establishment Rhetoric in Central and Eastern Europe’ (with Klaus Armingeon and Kevin Deegan-Krause) [data set]
The survival of new centrist anti-establishment parties. The interplay of anti-corruption and ideology over time [PhD thesis] - Awarded the Best Dissertation Prize (2018-2019) by the Swiss Political Science Association.