Assoz. Professor (tenure-track), Deputy Head of Department

 

Short bio: Before joining the Department of Government at the University of Vienna, Carolina was Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the University of Bologna and FWF Hertha Firnberg scholar at the University of Vienna on a project on the consequences of coalition government compromise on public opinion. She completed her PhD at Trinity College Dublin in November 2013 with a dissertation on electoral behaviour under mixed electoral systems, under the supervision of Professors Michael Marsh and Kenneth Benoit. Her Ph.D. dissertation has been awarded the ECPR Jean Blondel PhD Prize for the best thesis in Politics in 2014.

She is also involved together with Prof. Sylvia Kritzinger in the H2020 project RECONNECT. The project studies citizen perceptions of democracy and the rule of law in the EU and possible scenarios of reform.

In July 2020, Carolina has been awarded an ERC StG to examine the meanings of voting for ordinary citizens, their causes and consequences. The project started in January 2021. More info here.  

 

Current projects:

• ERC StG project to examine the meanings of ‘voting’ for ordinary citizens, their causes and consequences (2021-2025).
• FWF Hertha Firnberg project on the consequences of coalition government compromise on public opinion (2018-2023). 
• H2020 project RECONNECT on citizen perceptions of democracy and the rule of law in the EU and possible scenarios of reform (2018-2021).

 

Research interests: comparative electoral behaviour, coalition governments, representation and research methodologies.

Personal Webpage

Google scholar

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PUBLICATIONS:

Books

Kritzinger, Sylvia, Plescia, Carolina, Raube, Kolja, Wilhelm, James and Wouters, Jan (2020). Assessing the 2019 European Elections. (Routledge)

Plescia, Carolina (2016). Split-ticket voting in mixed-member electoral systems: a theoretical and methodological investigation. (ECPR press)

 

Forthcoming articles

Partheymüller, Julia, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Plescia, Carolina. Misinformedness about the European Union and the Preference to Vote to Leave or Remain. Forthcoming in JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Spoon, Jae-Jae. Who’s to Blame? How Performance Evaluation and Partisanship Influence Responsibility Attribution in Grand Coalition Governments. Forthcoming in European Journal of Political Research.

Plescia, Carolina and Kritzinger, Sylvia. When marriage gets hard: Intra-coalition conflict and electoral accountability. Forthcoming in Comparative Political Studies.

Plescia, Carolina and Zucchini, Francesco. Government alternation and proximity voting: How policy change opportunities shape electoral behavior. Forthcoming in West European Politics.

Plescia, Carolina. Voters' short-term responsiveness to coalition deals. Forthcoming in Party Politics.

Kritzinger, Sylvia, Foucault, Martial, Lachat, Romain, Partheymüller, Julia, Plescia, Carolina and Brouard, Sylvain. Rally 'Round the Flag: The COVID-19 crisis and trust in the national government. Forthcoming in West European Politics.

Plescia, Carolina, Sevi, Semra and Blais, André. Who likes to vote by mail? Forthcoming in American Politics Research.

Plescia, Carolina, Ecker, Alejandro and Meyer, Thomas M. Do party supporters accept policy compromises in coalition governments? Forthcoming in European Journal of Political Research.

Blais, André, Sevi, Semra and Plescia, Carolina. Are voters' views about proportional outcomes shaped by partisan preferences? A survey experiment in the context of a real election. Forthcoming in Political Science Research and Methods.

Högström, John, Blais, André and Plescia, Carolina. Do voters prefer more parties on the ballot? Forthcoming in Acta Politica.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Eberl, Jakob-Moritz. 'The Enemy Within': Campaign Attention and Motivated Reasoning in Voter Perceptions of Intra-Party Conflict. Forthcoming in Party Politics.

 

Published articles

Aichholzer, Julian, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Plescia, Carolina (2021). National identity profiles and support for the European Union. European Union Politics, 22(2): 293-315.

Bernhard, Kittel, Kritzinger, Sylvia, Boomgaarden, Hajo, Prainsack, Barbara, Eberl, Jakob-Moritz, Kalleitner, Fabian, Lebernegg, Noëlle S., Partheymüller, Julia, Plescia, Carolina, Schiestl David W. and Schlogl Lukas (2021). The Austrian Corona Panel Project: monitoring individual and societal dynamics amidst the COVID-19 crisis. European Political Science, 20: 318-344.

Plescia, Carolina, Daoust, Jean-François and Blais, André (2021). Do European elections enhance satisfaction with European Union democracy? European Union Politics, 22(1): 94-113.

Plescia, Carolina and Eberl, Jakob-Moritz (2021). 'Not my government!' The role of norms and populist attitudes on voter preferences for government formation after the election. Party Politics, 27(1): 103-113.

Plescia, Carolina, Blais, André and Högström, John (2020). Do People Want a 'Fairer' Electoral System? An Experimental Study in Four Countries. European Journal of Political Research, 59(4): 733-751.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Oberluggauer, Patricia (2020). Parties' Issue Strategies on the Drawing Board: the 2017 Austrian Case. West European Politics, 43(3): 639-664.

Eberl, Jakob-Moritz, Huber, Lena and Plescia, Carolina (2020). A Tale of Firsts: The 2019 Austrian Snap Election. West European Politics, 43(6): 1350-1363.

Plescia, Carolina (2019). On the Subjectivity of the Experience of Victory: Who are the Election Winners? Political Psychology, 40(4): 797-814.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and De Sio, Lorenzo (2019). Filling the Void? Political Responsiveness of Populist Parties. Representation, 55(4): 513-533.

Morisi, Davide and Plescia, Carolina (2018). Learning from the other side: how social networks influence turnout in a referendum campaign.  Italian Political Science Review, 48(2): 155-175. *Winner of the pre-registration OSF prize and of the RISP/ITANES Preregistration Challenge Competition*

Bodlos, Anita and Plescia, Carolina (2018). The 2017 Austrian snap election: A shift rightward. West European Politics, 41(6): 1354-1363.

Eberl, Jakob-Moritz and Plescia, Carolina (2018). Coalitions in the news: How saliency and tone in news coverage influence voters' preferences and expectations about coalitions. Electoral Studies, 55: 30-39.

Nyhuis, Dominic and Plescia, Carolina (2018). The non-ideological component of coalition preferences. Party Politics, 24(6): 686-697.

Plescia, Carolina and Kritzinger, Sylvia (2018). Credit or Debit? The Effect of Issue Ownership on Retrospective Economic Voting.  Acta Politica, 53(2): 248-268.

Plescia, Carolina and Staniek, Magdalena (2017). In the Eye of the Beholder: Voters' Perceptions of Party Policy Shifts. West European Politics, 40(6): 1288-1309. *Winner of the Gordon Smith and Vincent Wright Memorial Prize*

Plescia, Carolina (2017). On the Mismeasurement of Sincere and Strategic Voting in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems. Electoral Studies, 48: 19-29.

Plescia, Carolina (2017). Portfolio-specific accountability and retrospective voting: The case of Italy. Italian Political Science Review, 47(3): 313-336.

Plescia, Carolina and De Sio, Lorenzo (2017). An Evaluation of the Performance and Suitability of RxC Methods for Ecological Inference with Known True Values. Quality & Quantity, 52(2): 669-683.

Plescia, Carolina and Aichholzer, Julian (2017). On the nature of voters' coalition preferences. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 27(3): 254-273.

Thomas, Kathrin, Johann, David, Kritzinger, Sylvia, Plescia, Carolina and Zeglovits, Eva (2017). Estimating Sensitive Behaviour: The ICT and High Incidence Behaviour. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 29(1): 151-171.

Plescia, Carolina and Kritzinger, Sylvia (2017). Retrospective voting and party support at elections: credit and blame for government and opposition. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 27(2): 156-171.

Plescia, Carolina (2017). The effect of pre-electoral party coordination on vote choice: evidence from the Italian regional elections. Political Studies, 65(1): 144-160.

Fernandez, Jorge, Pereira, Miguel and Plescia, Carolina (2016). Strategic voting in local elections: Evidence from Portugal (1979-2013). Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 26(3): 312-335.

Marsh, Michael and Plescia, Carolina (2016). Split-ticket voting in an STV system: choice in a non-strategic context. Irish Political Studies, 31(2): 163-181.

 

Book chapters

Plescia, Carolina (2018) Expected electoral performance, candidate quality and voter strategic coordination: The case of Japan. In: John Aldrich, André Blais and Laura Stephenson (eds.) The Many Faces of Strategic Voting. The University Michigan Press.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Oberluggauer, Patricia (2018). Austria 2017: conflict mobilization in a reconstructing political landscape. In: Lorenzo De Sio and Aldo Paparo (eds.) The year of challengers? Issues, public opinion, and elections in Western Europe in 2017. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 187-193.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Oberluggauer, Patricia (2018). 2017 Austrian election: A move to the right. In: Lorenzo De Sio and Aldo Paparo (eds.) The year of challengers? Issues, public opinion, and elections in Western Europe in 2017. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 193-197.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Oberluggauer, Patricia (2018). Austria 2017: mobilitazione del conflitto politico in un sistema partitico in ricostruzione. In: Vincenzo Emanuele and Aldo Paparo (eds.) Dall’Europa alla Sicilia. Elezioni e opinione pubblica nel 2017. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 201-207.

Plescia, Carolina, Kritzinger, Sylvia and Oberluggauer, Patricia (2018). Svolta a destra nelle elezioni 2017 in Austria. In: Vincenzo Emanuele and Aldo Paparo (eds.) Dall’Europa alla Sicilia. Elezioni e opinione pubblica nel 2017. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 207-210.

Plescia, Carolina and Kritzinger, Sylvia (2014). Austria: No one loses, all win? In: Lorenzo De Sio, Vincenzo Emanuele and Nicola Maggini (eds.) The European Parliament Elections of 2014. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 127-132.

Plescia, Carolina and Johann, David (2014). Germany: Merkel does not stand out but holds. In: Lorenzo De Sio, Vincenzo Emanuele and Nicola Maggini (eds.) The European Parliament Elections of 2014. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 189-194. 

Plescia, Carolina and Kritzinger, Sylvia (2014). Austria: Nessuno perde e tutti vincono? In: Lorenzo De Sio, Vincenzo Emanuele and Nicola Maggini (eds.) Le Elezioni Europee 2014. Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 181-185.

Plescia, Carolina and Johann, David (2014). Germania: La Merkel non trionfa ma regge. In: Lorenzo De Sio, Vincenzo Emanuele and Nicola Maggini (eds.) Le Elezioni Europee 2014.  Roma: CISE-Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali, pp. 231-235.