Giovanni Capoccia

I am Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations and Fellow in Politics at Corpus Christi College.

For the academic year 2024-2025, I am Visiting Professor at Science Po Paris, Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée.

Research

My current research focuses on democratic self-defense against illiberal and anti-democratic forces. I also have a strong interest in political institutions, democratization, transitional justice, and historical approaches to the study of politics—fields in which I have published extensively (see my website for details). My writing primarily examines the politics of advanced democracies, particularly in Europe.

My current project, Back from the Brink: Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies, co-directed with Professor Isabela Mares (Yale), lays the groundwork for a research agenda on how illiberal forces can be countered in liberal democracies. Specifically, it theorizes the temporalities, trade-offs, and dilemmas associated with strategies to defend democracy against illiberal actors in the short term, whether they are in opposition or in government eroding constitutional guarantees—a hallmark of democratic backsliding. While actions aimed at entrenching democratic consensus (e.g., civic education, redistribution, or labour market policies) remain essential for stabilising democracy in the long term, strategies involving restriction, exclusion, and mobilisation are crucial for ensuring democratic persistence in the short term and enabling long-term measures to take effect. We have held project conferences at both Oxford and Yale and are currently finalising a collective volume.

The analysis of democratic self-defence has been a longstanding theme in my research. My work on democratic crises in interwar Europe has been published in several journals and in a research monograph titled Defending Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005; paperback 2007). The book received the APSA Award for the Best Book in European Politics.

I am currently developing several aspects of the research program outlined in Back from the Brink, including the evolution of legal and judicial restrictions on the extreme right in post-war Western European democracies, the use of double discourse by illiberal political parties in liberal democracies, and the impact of diffusion processes on resistance to democratic backsliding.

My writings have received numerous publication prizes, including the Best Book in European Politics, the Sage Award for the Best Paper in Comparative Politics, the Sage Award for the Best Paper in Qualitative Methods, the Alexander George Award for the Best Article Developing and Applying Qualitative and Multiple Methods, the Award for the Best Paper in Comparative Democratization, and the Mary Parker Follett Award for the Best Article in Politics and History, all from the American Political Science Association.

My research has been supported by various national and international funding agencies. I have held a British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship and a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, as well as visiting positions at several academic institutions, including the University of Heidelberg, the University of California, Berkeley, the Max-Planck-Institute in Comparative Law (Heidelberg), the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University (as the Rita E. Hauser Fellow), and the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics at Sciences Po Paris.

I welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students interested in pursuing projects on democratic backsliding, democratization, political extremism in liberal democracies, and transitional justice, particularly in the context of European political development. 

Media

• Democratic crises and democratic backsliding
• Political extremism
• European Politics

Teaching

Graduate

Case Study Research (graduate seminar) (2007-present)

Research Design in Comparative Politics (graduate lectures) (2007-present)

Comparative Government (M.Phil. in Comparative Government-- 2003-present)

Comparative Methodology (graduate lectures) (2002-2005)

Comparative European Politics (M.Phil. in European Politics and Society) (2001-2003)

Undergraduate

Lectures, Party systems and coalition-making in Western Europe (Paper 206: The Politics and Government of Western Europe).

Administration

Director of Graduate Studies in Politics, 2024-2027

Convenor, Comparative Politics Research Network, 2020-2022

Director, MPhil in Comparative Government, 2017-2019

Chair of Graduate Examiners, 2013-2014

Director of Research, 2007-2011

Graduate Examiners’ Board, 2002-2005; 2011-2014

Course provider, The Politics and Government of Western Europe (2002-2006)