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Professor Damien Bol
Professor Damien Bol

Professor Damien Bol

Professor of Political Behaviour

Research interests

  • Politics

Contact details

Biography

Damien (he/him/his) joined the Department of Political Economy in 2015. Prior to this, he studied and worked at the Université de Montréal (Canada) and UCLouvain (Belgium). He also held visiting positions at the Paris School of Economics (France) and the European University Institute (Italy).

Office hours

Monday 10.00 - 11.00 (online)

Tuesday: 14.30-15.30 (in office, Bush House North East Wing 7.20)

Please book a time slot at least 24 hours in advance by clicking on this link: https://damien-bol.youcanbook.me/

Research

Damien uses (quasi) experiments to study elections and democracy, examining how voters and parties react and proactively engage with political institutions. The objective is to better understand people's experience of elections across countries, with the goal to identify both the positive and negative aspects of representative democracy and find ways to improve it.

More details about Damien’s research can be found on his website

Teaching

  • Introduction to Comparative Politics
  • Elections and Voting Behaviour

PhD supervision

Damien will consider supervising students who want to use quantitative methods, especially experiments and surveys, to study elections, voters and parties, particularly with a comparative perspective. 

Latest publications

  • Damien Bol, André Blais, Maxime Coulombe, Jean-François Laslier, and Jean-Benoit Pilet. (2023) Choosing an Electoral Rule: Values and Self-Interest in the Lab. Journal of Economic Psychology 95: 102602.
  • Damien Bol, Andrew Hunter, and Gabriela Aguirre Fernandez (2023). The Psychological Partisan Effect of Electoral Systems: How Ideology Correlates with Strategic Voting. Party Politics. First View.
  • Jean-Benoit Pilet, Damien Bol, Davide Vittori, and Emilien Paulis (2023). Public Support for Citizens' Assemblies Selected through Sortition: Evidence from 15 Countries. European Journal of Political Research 62(3): 873-902
  • Damien Bol, and Ria Ivandic (2022). Does the Number of Candidates Increase Turnout? Causal Evidence From Two-Round Elections. Political Behavior. 44(4): 2005-2026.
  • Christopher J. Anderson, Damien Bol, and Aurelia Ananda (2021). Estimating Humanity’s Attitudes About Democracy and Political Leaders: Patterns and Trends. Public Opinion Quarterly. 85(4): 957-986.
  • André Blais, Damien Bol, Shaun Bowler, David M. Farrell, Annika Fredén, Martial Foucault, Emmanuel Heisbourg, Romain Lachat, Ignacio Lago, Peter John Loewen, Miroslav Nemcok, JeanBenoit Pilet, and Carolina Plescia (2021). What Kind of Electoral Outcome do People Think is Good for Democracy? Political Studies. First View.
  • Damien Bol, and Marco Giani (2021). It's a (Coarsened Exact) Match! Non-Parametric Imputation of Abstainers' Vote. Political Science Research and Methods 9(2): 445-450.
  • Damien Bol, Marco Giani, André Blais, and Peter John Loewen (2021). The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Political Support: Some Good News for Democracy? European Journal of Political Research 60(2): 497–505
  • Damien Bol, Thomas Gschwend, Thomas Zittel, Steffen Zittlau (2021). The Importance of Personal Vote Intentions for the Responsiveness of Legislators: A Field Experiment. European Journal of Political Research 60(2): 455-473.
  • Philipp Harfst, Damien Bol, and Jean-François Laslier (2021). Designing Preference Voting. Electoral Studies 69: 102262.
  • Damien Bol, Konstantinos Matakos, Orestis Troumpounis, and Dimitrios Xefteris (2019). Electoral Rules, Strategic Entry, and Polarization. Journal of Public Economics 178(104065): 1-12.
  • Damien Bol, André Blais, Xavier Gillard, Lidia Nunez, and Jean-Benoit Pilet (2018). Voting and Satisfaction with Democracy in Flexible-List PR. Electoral Studies 56: 23-34.
  • Damien Bol, André Blais, and Simon Labbé St-Vincent (2018). Which Matters Most: Party Strategic Exit or Voter Strategic Voting? A Laboratory Experiment. Political Science Research and Methods 6(2): 229-244.
  • Damien Bol, André Blais, and Jean-François Laslier (2018). A Mixed-Utility Theory of Vote Choice Regret. Public Choice 176(3): 461-478.

 

Research

talk-at-kings-thumbnail
Comparative Politics Research Group

The Comparative Politics research group hosts a research agenda based on political institutions, representation and regimes.

quantative resized
Quantitative Political Economy Research Group

The Quantitative Political Economy research group gathers economists and political scientists that are committed to bridging the two disciplines. The common ground is the study politics and policies with advanced quantitative methods and formal modeling.

News

Study finds Europeans are 'not ready' for citizens' assemblies

Britons and Europeans are not yet ready for deliberative citizens’ assemblies, a new study found.

crowd-of-people-1488213

Study finds 'increasing tolerance' for a more authoritarian style of political leadership

Support for democracy and democratic principles has remained steadfast around the world over a period of decades…but there are signs some people are becoming...

Voting

Academic team presents report to House of Lords committee

A report prepared by a team of academics from the Department of Political Economy was presented to a House of Lords committee.

parliament at night

Paper reveals impact of COVID-19 on trust in governments

Trust in governments and democracy in Europe has been bolstered by the Covid-19 pandemic, a new paper has found.

Trust in democracy and democratic institutions has been bolstered.

Research

talk-at-kings-thumbnail
Comparative Politics Research Group

The Comparative Politics research group hosts a research agenda based on political institutions, representation and regimes.

quantative resized
Quantitative Political Economy Research Group

The Quantitative Political Economy research group gathers economists and political scientists that are committed to bridging the two disciplines. The common ground is the study politics and policies with advanced quantitative methods and formal modeling.

News

Study finds Europeans are 'not ready' for citizens' assemblies

Britons and Europeans are not yet ready for deliberative citizens’ assemblies, a new study found.

crowd-of-people-1488213

Study finds 'increasing tolerance' for a more authoritarian style of political leadership

Support for democracy and democratic principles has remained steadfast around the world over a period of decades…but there are signs some people are becoming...

Voting

Academic team presents report to House of Lords committee

A report prepared by a team of academics from the Department of Political Economy was presented to a House of Lords committee.

parliament at night

Paper reveals impact of COVID-19 on trust in governments

Trust in governments and democracy in Europe has been bolstered by the Covid-19 pandemic, a new paper has found.

Trust in democracy and democratic institutions has been bolstered.