Zeynep Somer-Topcu's research and teaching interests include party politics, voter behavior and perceptions, election results, and representation. Her main focus is on Western Europe, though her research often extends to other advanced industrial democracies. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Politics, and Party Politics. She is currently working on a series of projects examining how parties' position-taking strategies and particularly how their election campaign strategies affect voters perceptions of party policies.
Somer-Topcu is the co-winner of the Emerging Scholar Award given by the American Political Science Association section on Political Organizations and Parties in 2013. She also received the Jack Walker Outstanding Article Award in 2013 for her coauthored article Government versus Opposition at the Polls (coauthored with Kathleen Bawn) given by the APSA section on Political Organizations and Parties. Her coauthored article Is Anybody Listening? (coauthored with James Adams and Lawrence Ezrow) was awarded the American Journal of Political Science Best Article Award in 2012. This latter award is given by the Midwest Political Science Association to the best paper published in the American Journal of Political Science in the previous year.
Ph.D.
in Political Science, University of California, Davis, 2009
M.A.
in Political Science, Texas A&M University, 2005
B.A.
in Political Science, Bogazici University, 2003
Comparative political parties, elections, representation, voter behavior, European politics
Member,
Best Article in Political Behavior Committee of the APSA Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section, American Political Science Association (2016)
Member,
GESIS Klingemann Prize for the Best CSES Scholarship committee, (2015)
Member,
Executive Committee, APSA Political Organizations and Parties Section (2014 - 2016)
Chair,
Best Paper Award Committee of the APSA Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section, American Political Science Association (2014)
Member,
Executive Committee, APSA Representation and Electoral Systems Section (2013 - 2015)
Member,
Leon D. Epstein Outstanding Book Award Committee, American Political Science Association (2012)
Member,
Editorial Board, Party Politics
Member,
Editorial Board, British Journal of Political Science
Reviewer,
Editorial Board, National Science Foundation, Israel Science Foundation, Swiss Science Foundation, Cambridge University Press, American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies
Jack Walker Outstanding Article Award
- American Political Science Association (2013)
Emerging Scholar Award
- American Political Science Association (2013)
American Journal of Political Science Best Article Award
- Midwest Political Science Association (2012)
Leon Weaver Best Paper Award
- American Political Science Association (2008)
