Isabelle Guinaudeau
CNRS Research Fellow
Research Topics
political competition, electoral programs, electoral promises, public action, public opinion, European integration, representation
Isabelle Guinaudeau’s research is at the juncture of comparative politics, electoral studies and public policy analysis. Between 2014 and 2018, she has lead the French Reserch Agency project PARTIPOL on French executives’ electoral pledges. Together with Elisa Deiss-Helbig and Theres Matthiess, she is the PI of the Franco-German project UNEQUALMAND on group targeting in electoral programs and public policy. In this context, she uses several experimental surveys to grasp the effects of pledges and their fulfillment in terms of representation. Isabelle has also worked on executive popularity, French government coalitions, or ministerial portfolio reforms. She has published, among others: Do elections (still) matter ? Mandates, Institutions, and Policies in Western Europe (Oxford University Press, 2021, with Emiliano Grossman) as well as articles in journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, European Journal of Political Research, European Union Politics, West European Politics ou the French Journal of Political Science.
Current project:
UNEQUALMAND: Unequal mandate responsiveness? How electoral promises and their realizations target groups in France and Germany (2022-2025)
2. Teaching
Isabelle Guinaudeau has taught classes in several languages and formats (seminar, lecture, methodological training session) and at all levels. She has notably taught on comparative politics, agenda-setting or the transformations of European party systems.
3. Editorial activities
Review editor of French Politics (since 2018)
Editor (with Simon Persico) of a special issue of the French Journal of Political Science on Electoral promises.
Editor (with Astrid Kufer and Christophe Premat) of the Dictionnaire des relations franco-allemandes (Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 2009) and of the German version (Handwörterbuch der deutsch-französischen Beziehungen, NOMOS, 2009, 2015).
4. Awards & Prizes
2024 - CNRS Bronze Medal
2023 - Best Paper Prize granted by the ECPR Standing Group on “Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in a Comparative Perspective” for a paper presented at the 2023 ECPR General Conference, received jointly with E. Deiss-Helbig for the article "From Electoral Pledges to Coalition Agreements: Coalition bargaining and policy payoffs in Germany (2002-2021)"
2015 - Frank L. Wilson Award for Best Paper Presented at APSA concerning France and French politics, received jointly with M. Becher and S. Brouard for the article “Prime Ministers and the Electoral Cost of Using the Confidence Vote in Legislative Bargaining”
2012 - Best dissertation prize, Franco-German university
5. Most recent publications
Guinaudeau B., Guinaudeau I. (2023) (When) do Electoral Mandates Set the Agenda? Government Capacity and Mandate Responsiveness in Germany. European Journal of Political Research, 62(4): 1212-1234.
Guinaudeau I., Costa O. (2022) Issue Politicization in the European Parliament. An Analysis of Parliamentary Questions for Oral Answers. Journal of Common Market Studies, 60(3): 507-525.
Grossman E., Guinaudeau I. (2021) Do Elections (Still) Matter? Mandates, Institutions, and Policies in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
