Dr. Constanza Sanhueza Petrarca

Constanza Sanhueza Petrarca is a Research Fellow at the Research Unit Transformations of Democracy led by Professor Daniel Ziblatt at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. She is also Associate Editor of the Journal Representation. Prior to joining the WZB, she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Varieties of Democracy Institute at the University of Gothenburg and at Sciences Po Paris. Constanza received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Mannheim.

Her research interests include democracy,political representation,parties, electoral behavior,public opinion, immigration, text analysis, survey research, and experiments.

Research Projects:

1) The Quality of Political Representation: the objective of this new research project is to conceptualize and measure political representation across countries. I focus on descriptive representation, policy processes and outputs, and citizens’ attitudes towards democracy, institutions, political actors, and policies.

2)Political Legitimacy in Times of Crisis: in this project, I investigate the impact of crises on democracy looking at transformations in party systems, voting behavior, and public opinion across European democracies. Current studies examine citizens’ support and compliance with the Covid-19 prevention measures implemented by national governments across European countries. In this project I collaborate with Professor Bernhard Weßels (WZB/Humboldt University) and Dr. Heiko Giebler (WZB/Free University of Berlin)

3) Social Media and Elections: I seek to apply innovative techniques and approaches to examine online behavior during elections. Single-country studies focus on the Twitter activity of political elites (candidates and elected representatives), citizens, and their online interactions. In this project, I collaborate with Dr. Steven Wilson (Brandeis University).

Selected Publications

Articles

1. (2020) Support for Insider Parties: The Role of Political Trust in a Longitudinal-Comparative Perspective. Party Politics (w/ H Giebler, B Wessels)

2. (2019) Mixing Messages: How Candidates Vary in their Use of Twitter.  Journal of Information Technology and Politics (w/ J Gelman, S Wilson)

3. (2019) The 2018 Swedish Election Campaign on Twitter.  Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift (Swedish Political Science Journal) (w/ S Wilson, M Tyrberg)

4. (2018) State of the World 2017: Autocratization and Exclusion?. Democratization (w/A Lührmann, V Mechkova, S Dahlum, L Maxwell)

Book Chapters

1.  Forthcoming. Attitudes towards Immigrants and Refugees in Europe. In S Wilson & N Seltzer (eds). Handbook on Security and Democracy. Edward Elgar Publishing (w/S Horvath)

2. (2020) Does Voting at a Younger Age Have an Effect on Satisfaction with Democracy and Political Trust?  Evidence from Latin America. In J Berg, J Heichhorn, J. (eds) Lowering the Voting Age to 16: Learning from real experiences to inform the debate. Palgrave Macmillan

3. (2019) Support for Swedish Integration Policies for Immigrants: Economic Motivations and Party Preference. In U Andersson, B Rönnerstrand, P Öhberg, & A Bergström (eds) Storm and Quiet. SOM Book Series no 74. SOM Institute (w/ M Demker)

Working Papers Series

1. (2017) Experts, Coders, and Crowds: An analysis of substitutability. The Varieties of Democracy Institute Working Paper Series 2017:53 (w/K Marquardt, D Pemstein, B Seim, S Wilson, M Bernhard, M Coppedge, S Lindberg)

2. (2011). Parliamentary Questions on Immigration in Britain, France, and Germany: Is MPs’ Background Relevant? Working Paper 2/2011, University of Bamberg (w/T Saalfeld, A. Wüst)

Reports and Dissemination Articles 

1. Rationality and Populism: The role of Science in the Pandemic.  2021. WZB-Mitteilungen (w/H Giebler, B Wessels)

2. Iran’s Parliamentary Election in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Main Developments and Citizen’s Reactions Online. 2020. WZB-Mitteilungen (w/L Hashemi, S/Wilson)

3. Trust in Political Parties in European Democracies.  2019. Policy Brief #3. Solikris Publications. GESIS. (w/S Horvath)

4. Women’s Rights and Political Empowerment in Benin, Bolivia, Malawi and Morocco. Thematic Report Series 2019:4. The Varieties of Democracies Institute. Paper prepared for the European Commission (w/S Dahlum, M Olin)

5. Political Inclusion of Social Groups Around the World. 2019. Report prepared for USAID (w/S Lindberg)

6. Women Political Empowerment, Good Governance and Human Development. 2019. Report prepared for USAID (w/S Dahlum, V Mechkova)

7. V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2018. Democracy for All? 2018. (w/A Lührmann, S Dahlum, S Lindberg, L Maxwell, V Mechkova, M Olin, S Pillai, R Sigman, N Stepanova)

8. Democracy and Democratic Development in Latin America. 2018. Report prepared for the United States Agency of International Development (USAID)

9. The State of Democracy in Colombia. 2018. Report prepared for the United States Agency of International Development (USAID)

10. Women’s Political Representation Around the World. 2018. WZB-Mitteilungen #161.

11. V-Dem Annual Report 2017. Democracy at Dusk? 2017. (w/A Lührmann, S Dahlum, S Lindberg, V Mechkova, M Olin, F Piccinelli Cassagrande, L Saxer)