Publications

Dassonneville, Ruth, Patrick Fournier, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Do citizens perceive an empty left-authoritarian quadrant? Citizen perceptions of parties' positions in a multi-dimensional space." Forthcoming in Comparative Political Studies. PDF
Cakir, Semih, Oguzhan Alkan, Ruth Dassonneville, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Oscillations in Perceptual Accuracy: How well do people perceive parties' ideological positions?" Forthcoming in Political Behavior. PDF
Aldrich, Andrea and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2025. Glass Ceilings, Glass Cliffs, and Quicksands: Gendered Party Leadership in Parliamentary Systems. Cambridge University Press. PDF
Cozza, Joseph, Gonzalo di Landro, Andrea Aldrich, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2025. "A Rainbow Ceiling? Sexual Orientation and Party Leader Evaluations." British Journal of Political Science 55:e152. doi:10.1017/S0007123425100823 PDF
Amini, Arash, Yigit Ege Bayiz, Eun-Ju Lee, Zeynep Somer-Topcu, Radu Marculescu, and Ufuk Topcu. 2025. "How Media Competition Fuels the Spread of Misinformation." Science Advances 11(25). doi:10.1126/sciadv.adu7743 PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep, Patrick Fournier, and Ruth Dassonneville. 2025. "Personal Issue Importance Effects on Voters' Perceptual Accuracy of Party Issue Positions." Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2024.2395349 PDF
Adams, James, Luca Bernardi, Lawrence Ezrow, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2023. "Why Parties Gain Votes When the Public Perceives Them Shifting to the Right." Political Studies 72(3): 1203-1222. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217231178979 PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Margit Tavits. 2023. "Message Distortion as a Campaign Strategy: Does Rival Party Distortion of Focal Party Position Affect Voters?" Journal of Politics 85(3): 892-904. https://doi.org/10.1086/723817 PDF
Dassonneville, Ruth, Patrick Fournier, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2023. "Partisan Attachments in a Multi-Dimensional Space." West European Politics 46(4): 678-704. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2087387 PDF
Liu, Amy H., Michael G. Findley, David Leal, Raúl L. Madrid, Eric L. McDaniel, God'swill Osa, Tasha Philpot, Brooke Shannon, Zeynep Somer-Topcu, and Chris Wlezien. 2023. "Normalizing Diversity in Merit Review Forms." PS: Political Science and Politics 56(1): 123-127. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096522000920 PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Daniel Weitzel. 2022. "Negative Campaigning and Vote Choice in Europe: How do Different Partisan Groups React to Campaign Attacks?" Comparative Political Studies 55(13): 2283-2310. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140221074283 PDF
Jung, Jae-Hee and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2022. "United We Stand, Divided We Fall? The Effects of Parties' Brexit Rhetoric on Voters' Perceptions of Party Positions." Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 32(3): 596-614. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2020.1839470 PDF
Cozza, Joseph and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2021. "Membership Vote for Party Leadership Changes: Electoral Effects and the Causal Mechanisms Behind." Electoral Studies 71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102326 PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep, Margit Tavits, and Markus Baumann. 2020. "Does Party Rhetoric Affect Voter Perceptions of Party Positions?" Electoral Studies 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2020.102153 PDF
Fernandez-Vazquez, Pablo and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2019. "The Informational Role of Party Leader Changes on Voter Perceptions of Party Positions." British Journal of Political Science 49(3): 977-996. PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. 2017. "Agree or Disagree: How do Party Leader Changes Affect the Distribution of Voters' Perceptions." Party Politics 23(1): 66-75. PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. 2015. "Everything to Everyone: The Electoral Consequences of the Broad-Appeal Strategy in Europe." American Journal of Political Science 59(4): 841-854. PDF
Adams, James, Lawrence Ezrow, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2014. "Do Voters Respond to Party Manifestos or to a Wider Information Environment? An Analysis of Mass-elite Linkages on European Integration." American Journal of Political Science 58(4): 967-978. PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Laron Williams. 2014. "Opposition Party Policy Shifts in Response to No-Confidence Motions." European Journal of Political Research 53(3): 600-616. PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Michelle Zar. 2014. "European Parliamentary Elections and National Party Policy Change." Comparative Political Studies 47: 878-902. PDF
Adams, James, Lawrence Ezrow, Samuel Merill III, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2013. "Does Collective Responsibility for Performance Alter Party Strategies? Policy-Seeking Parties in Proportional Systems?" British Journal of Political Science 43(1): 1-23. PDF
Bawn, Kathleen and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2012. "Government versus Opposition at the Polls: How Governing Status Affects the Impact of Policy Positions." American Journal of Political Science 56(2): 433-446. 2013 Jack Walker Outstanding Article Award PDF
Adams, James, Lawrence Ezrow, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2011. "Is Anybody Listening? Evidence that Voters do not Respond to European Parties' Policy Programmes." American Journal of Political Science 55(2): 370-382. 2012 AJPS Best Article Award PDF
Maoz, Zeev and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2010. "Polarization and Political Stability in Multiparty Systems (1945-1998)." British Journal of Political Science 40(4): 805-833. PDF
Adams, James and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2009. "Do Parties Adjust Their Policies in Response to Rival Parties' Policy Shifts? Spatial Theory and the Dynamics of Party Competition in Twenty-Five Postwar Democracies." British Journal of Political Science 39: 825-846. PDF
Adams, James and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2009. "Moderate Now, Win Votes Later: The Electoral Consequences of Parties' Policy Shifts in Twenty-Five Postwar Democracies." Journal of Politics 71(2): 678-692. 2008 Leon Weaver Best Paper Award PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. 2009. "Timely Decisions: The Effects of Past National Elections on Party Policy." Journal of Politics 71(1): 238-248. PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Laron Williams. 2008. "Survival of the Fittest? Cabinet Duration in Post-Communist Europe." Comparative Politics 40(3): 313-329. PDF
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Daniel Weitzel. 2024. "Leadership Turnovers and Their Electoral Consequences: A Social Democratic Exceptionalism?" In S. Hausermann and H. Kitschelt (Eds.) Beyond Social Democracy: The Transformation of the Left in Emerging Knowledge Societies. Cambridge University Press. PDF
Under Contract
Debus, Marc, Zeynep Somer-Topcu, and Margit Tavits, eds. Negative Campaigning in Europe. Under advanced contract with Oxford University Press.
Revise & Resubmit
Dassonneville, Ruth, Patrick Fournier, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Voters' Perceptions of Ideologically Inconsistent Parties." Revise & Resubmit at West European Politics.
Under Review
Nasr, Mohamed, Elizabeth N. Simas, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "The Lady's not for Turning? Candidate Gender and Position Switching." Under review.
Work in Progress
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Margit Tavits. "Party Message Distortion and Voter Perceptions of Party Positions in Multi-Party Systems."
Aldrich, Andrea, Joseph Cozza, Gonzalo di Landro, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Gender, and Legitimacy in Party Leader Selection."
Curtis, Kendall and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Various Types of Snap Elections and the Responsible Party Performance."
Curtis, Kendall, Betul Demirkaya, Grace Hartzell, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Rewarded for Principle, Punished for Ambition? Voter Reactions to No-Confidence Motions in Parliamentary Democracies."
Dassonneville, Ruth, Patrick Fournier, Jelle Koedam, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "The Dimensionality of Party Competition as Seen by Citizens."
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep, Ruth Dassonneville, and Patrick Fournier. "Voter perceptions of ambiguous party issue positions."
Goes, Iasmin, Zeynep Somer-Topcu, Daniel Weitzel, and Elise Frelin. "Political Candidates on Twitter: How do social media campaigns respond to public preferences?"
Fieremans, Merel and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Broad Appeal Strategy: How Parties Navigate Divergent Voter Preferences."
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. 2024. "Allan Sikk and Philipp Köker: Party people: candidates and party evolution." European Political Science. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-024-00498-1 (Book review)
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. 2022. "The Cycle of Coalition: How Parties and Voters Interact Under Coalition Governance. By David Fortunato." Perspectives on Politics 20(3): 1134-1136. (Book Review)
Jung, Jae-Hee and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. "Brexit: how intra-party unity helps voters understand and feel certain about party policy positions." London School of Economics British Politics and Policy blog post. December 7, 2020.
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. 2019. "Close to Home: Local Ties and Voting Radical Right in Europe. By Jennifer Fitzgerald." Perspectives on Politics 17(2): 616-617. (Book Review)
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep. "Can a New Leader Change a Party's Fortunes? How Leadership Changes Affect Voter Perceptions about Party Policy." London School of Economics EUROPP blog post. September 19, 2016.
Somer-Topcu, Zeynep and Laron Williams. "Motions of No-Confidence Can Negatively Impact upon the Public's View of the Government." London School of Economics Democratic Audit UK blog post. June 5, 2014.