M. Fenzl

Since September 2023, Michele Fenzl has been Assistant Professor of Disinformation and European Democracy in the Department of Politics at Maastricht University (FASoS). He gained his PhD in Government from the University of Essex (UK), with a thesis  -- supervised by Prof. Lawrence Ezrow -- on the effects of increasing economic inequality on elite behaviour, voter turnout, and unionisation. During his PhD, Michele also spent some time in the Department of Government of Cornell University, under the mentorship of Prof. Peter Enns. After completing his PhD, he moved to Switzerland to pursue a postdoc at the University of Zurich. There, he worked in the Chair of Political Institutions and European Government, held by Prof. Jon Slapin.

Michele’s research primarily focuses on political economy (inequality, welfare, and the shadow economy primarily), political behaviour (particularly studying voter turnout, vote choice, abstentionism, and the development of political attitudes), and comparative
politics (government responsiveness to public opinion). In his work, Michele extensively uses quantitative and experimental research methods. When it comes to thesis supervision, Michele is happy to accept projects employing quantitative methods on any of his primary research interests or -- more broadly speaking -- on topics in political behaviour, comparative political economy, or public opinion studies. 

Besides his research activities, Michele has also organised or contributed to teaching several courses on quantitative and experimental methods at the University of Lucerne, University of Zurich, and at the Essex Summer School on Social Science Data Analysis. He has also taught various courses on substantive topics such as political and bureaucratic corruption, the political economy of income inequality, authoritarianism and the empirical study of democracy, and comparative politics (government responsiveness, political parties, elections).

To access an updated list of Michele's publications, you can follow the link to his Google Scholar profile.