Rémi Passerotti

Please tell us about your research project

I am working on changes in policy proposals during national elections. Since the most commonly used baseline for evaluating candidates' offers is their manifesto, released several months before election day, I am interested in how their programmatic offer evolves throughout the campaign period. To do so, I analyze several of their public statements (rallies, press conferences, interviews, etc.) using computational social science methods to uncover potential changes in their offer: do they make promises out of the blue (i.e. that were not in their manifesto)? Do some of their policy commitments disappear from their speeches as the election approaches? Are some of them revised? What drives these changes in their programmatic offer — party competition, media coverage, public opinion, or real-world events?

During these two months as a visiting researcher, I would like to further analyze the interactions between mainstream right and radical right parties, and to benefit from the theoretical and methodological expertise of Oxford academics who have worked on party competition and the interactions between populist and mainstream parties. Furthermore, as my PhD thesis is primarily focused on the French presidential election, I am looking to gather data from other countries to conduct international comparisons in my future research — the UK being one of the cases I wish to examine.

I am also involved in a second research project focused on the emergence and evolution of the Ecology/Productivism cleavage in Western liberal democracies. In this project, I analyze the salience of related issues in party manifestos over time, as well as the positions that mainstream, radical right, and radical left parties take on these issues. Here too, I would greatly benefit from methodological guidance from Oxford academics.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?

I am one of the recipients of this year's funding from the UGA/Maison Française d'Oxford programme: the Outgoing International Mobility Support, within the framework of the GATES MaCI project, which allows me to spend two months (May and June) in Oxford. This mobility grant will enable me to meet in person senior academics who have worked on related topics and can offer theoretical or methodological advice, both in Oxford and London, as well as fellow PhD students working on related topics who may have useful insights or data to share. I also intend to attend several seminars on site to engage with their ongoing work.

First impressions of Oxford/the University? 

It is one thing to see pictures and be told about wandering around Oxford; it is another to actually be here. I spent the first few days finding excuses to walk or cycle to almost every destination, just to discover the city and its wonders — and I am truly astonished by its beauty. It feels almost unreal. I am also grateful that the city is not too densely populated and has plenty of parks. I can't wait to explore more.