Professor Sofia Vasilopoulou

Sofia Vasilopoulou joined the Department of European and International Studies in May 2022 as a Professor of European Politics. She is also an Honorary Professor at the University of York, where she previously worked (2011-2022). She is Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Political Research.

She has held a visiting research fellowship at the University of Zurich (2014). She has worked at University College London and Aston University (2010-2011). She received her PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2011.

Research

Sofia Vasilopoulou has published extensively in the fields of electoral politics, public opinion and party politics. She studies the causes and consequences of political dissatisfaction among the public and the ways in which this is channelled through party strategies and party competition. The findings of her research feed into debates about democratic legitimacy, accountability and representation in Europe and the European Union.

She has authored Far Right Parties and Euroscepticism: Patterns of Opposition (ECPR Press and Rowman & Littlefield 2018) and co-authored The Golden Dawn's Nationalist Solution: Explaining the rise of the far right in Greece (Palgrave Macmillan 2015 with Daphne Halikiopoulou). Both books have been translated into Greek by Epikedro Publishers.

For more info, see https://www.sofiavasilopoulou.com/

Google Scholar profile

Office hours

Monday: 15.30 - 16.30

Wednesday: 10.30 - 11.30

Teaching

• Introduction to Politics
• Far right politics in Europe and beyond 

PhD supervision

Sofia has supervised eight PhD students (six completed; two ongoing) and one visiting PhD student. She also has post-doc mentoring experience.

She welcomes PhD applications in the following areas:

• Elections, voters and parties
• Opposition to international cooperation, including Euroscepticism, anti-globalisation, and anti-trade politics.
• Far right
• Emotions in politics
• Representation
• Climate change scepticism
• Brexit and the European Union

Publications

Books

• Vasilopoulou, S. (2018) Far right parties and Euroscepticism: patterns of opposition. London: ECPR press/Rowman & Littlefield.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Halikiopoulou, D. (2015) The Golden Dawn’s ‘nationalist solution’: Explaining the rise of the far right in Greece. New York: Palgrave McMillan.
• Halikiopoulou, D. and S. Vasilopoulou (2011) (eds.) Nationalism and Globalisation: Conflicting or Complementary? Oxon; New York: Routledge (co-editor and co-author of introduction and conclusion).

Articles

• Vasilopoulou, S. and Halikiopoulou, D. (2023) Democracy and discontent: institutional trust and evaluations of system performance among core and peripheral far right voters. Journal of European Public Policy. DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2023.2215816 
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Zur, R. (2023) Electoral competition, the EU issue and far-right success in Western Europe. Political Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-022-09841-y
• Erişen, C. and Vasilopoulou, S. (2022) The affective model of far-right vote in Europe: Anger, political trust and immigration. Social Science Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13153
• Talving, L. and Vasilopoulou, S.(2021) Linking two levels of governance: Citizens’ trust in domestic and European institutions over time. Electoral Studies, 70, 102289.
• Pecot, F., Vasilopoulou, S. and Cavallaro, M. (2021) How political ideology drives anti-consumption manifestations. Journal of Business Research, 128: 61-69.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Wagner, M. (2021) Emotions and domestic vote choice. Journal of Elections, Parties and Public Opinion. Early view.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Gattermann, K. (2021) Does politicisation matter for EU representation? A comparison of four European Parliament elections. Journal of Common Market Studies. Early view.
• Erişen, C., Vasilopoulou and Kentmen-Cin, C. (2019) Emotional reactions to immigration and support for EU cooperation on immigration and terrorism. Journal of European Public Policy, 27(6): 795-813.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Talving, L. (2019) Poor versus rich countries: a gap in public attitudes towards fiscal solidarity in the EU. West European Politics, 43(4): 919-943.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Talving, L. (2019) Opportunity or threat? Public attitudes towards EU freedom of Movement. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(3): 805-823.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Talving, L. (2019) British public opinion on Brexit: Controversies and contradictions. European Political Science, 18(1): 134-142.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Keith, D. (2019) Negotiation versus Brexit: The question of the UK’s constitutional relationship with the EU. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(3): 486-501.
• Vasilopoulou, S. (2018) The party politics of Euroscepticism in times of crisis: the case of Greece. Politics, 38(3): 311–326.
• Halikiopoulou, D. and Vasilopoulou, S. (2018) Breaching the social contract: crises of democratic representation and patterns of extreme right-wing party support. Government and Opposition, 53(1): 26-50.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and Wagner, M. (2017) Fear, anger and enthusiasm about the EU: Effects of emotional reactions on public preferences towards European integration. European Union Politics, 18(3): 382–405.
• Gattermann, K. and S. Vasilopoulou (2015) Absent yet popular? Explaining news visibility of Members of the European Parliament. European Journal of Political Research, 54(1): 121-140.
• Vasilopoulou, S., D. Halikiopoulou and T. Exadaktylos (2014) Greece in crisis: austerity, populism and the politics of blame. Journal of Common Market Studies. 52(2): 388–402.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and D. Halikiopoulou (2013) In the Shadow of Grexit: The Greek Election of 11 June 2012. South European Society and Politics, 18(4): 523-542.
• Vasilopoulou, S. and K. Gattermann (2013) Matching policy preferences: the linkage between voters and MEPs. Journal of European Public Policy, 20(40): 606-625.
• Vasilopoulou, S. (2013) Continuity and change in the study of Euroscepticism: plus ça change? Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(1): 153–168.
• Halikiopoulou, D., S. Mock and S. Vasilopoulou (2013) The civic Zeitgeist: nationalism and liberal values in the European radical right. Nations and Nationalism, 19(1): 107-127.
• Halikiopoulou, D., K. Nanou and S. Vasilopoulou (2012) The paradox of nationalism: the common denominator of radical right and radical left Euroscepticism. European Journal of Political Research, 51(4): 504-539.
• Vasilopoulou, S. (2011) European integration and the radical right: Three patterns of opposition. Government and Opposition, 46(2): 223-244. [article also included in Mudde, C. (ed.) (2017) The populist radical right: A reader, Oxon: Routledge].
• Vasilopoulou, S. (2009) Varieties of Euroscepticism: the case of the European extreme right. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 5 (1): 3-23.