Leonardo PULEO

Bio

I hold a Ph.D in political science and I’m currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University College Dublin (UCD). My research interest deals with party competition and voting behaviour, with an interest in contemporary challenges against liberal democracy. I worked at the Université Libre de Bruxelles at the FNRS funded project “JUSTICE: Judicial (in)dependence: political, social and legal support and resistance(s) in Hungary, Poland and Romania” and now I’m contributing to the ERC funded project “ELECT” at UCD, studying electoral campaigns in Germany, Italy, UK and US, with a focus on how candidates, citizens and campaign professionals perceive their role, as well democratic norms regulating the campaigns. My research project “IllibEU: Party-Based illiberalism in Europe” has been recently funded by the FNRS and it will start at the ULB in October 2025.

CV

• Post-doc – University College Dublin (2023-now)
• Adjunct Professor – Université Libre de Bruxelles (2022-now)
• Post-doc- Université Libre de Bruxelles (2021-2023)
• Visiting Ph.D. Student – Université Libre de Bruxelles (2020)
• Visiting Ph.D. Student – University of Amsterdam (2019)
• Visiting Ph.D. Student – Central European University, Budapest (2019)
• Ph.D. - Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies/University of Florence (2017-2021)

Areas of research

• Political Parties
• Issue Competition
• Voting Behavior
• Far Right
• Illiberalism
• Democratic Norms

Teaching

I have taught (also as a co-convenor) or I’ve been appointed as teaching assistant to the following courses

• Research Topics in Political Science, Université Libre de Bruxelles
• Democracy, Elections and Campaigns, University College Dublin
• Contemporary Election Campaigns: Democratic Norms and Empirical Research, University College Dublin
• Scienza Politica, University of Florence
• Sistema Politico Italiano, University of Florence

Research

My research agenda revolves around the analysis of party competition and party agency in challenging the equilibria of their party systems, whether acting as issue entrepreneurs or as anti-establishment actors, with a focus on far-right parties. In my dissertation, I examined challenger parties in Europe, revealing both mainstream parties’ tendencies to imitate successful challengers and a deepening of the anti-establishment divide within European party systems. I have also worked extensively on the Italian case, analysing Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) in terms of issue supply, ideological alignments, organizational features, and its support base.
 

In parallel, I have explored contemporary challenges to the liberal pillars of modern democracies by examining the interaction between politics and the judiciary in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly the threats to judicial independence. Currently, I am working on individual-level preferences regarding the erosion of democratic norms.
 

In a new research project on party-based illiberalism, which I will begin in October 2025, I aim to connect my interest in party competition with contemporary challenges to liberalism by explaining the spread of illiberal ideas, issues, and policies within European party systems.

Publications

Puleo, L., Braun, D., Reinl, A. K., & Teperoglou, E. (2024). Another sleeping giant? Environmental issue preferences in the 2019 European Parliament elections. West European Politics. DOI: 10.1080/01402382.2024.2384797

Puleo, L., Carteny, G. and Piccolino, G (2024). Giorgia on the Italian’ mind: investigating vote switching to FdI in the 2022 Italian General Elections. Party Politics. DOI: 10.1177/13540688241257780

Puleo, L. & Coman, R. (2024). Explaining judges’ opposition to limiting judicial independence. Insights from Poland, Romania, and Hungary. Democratization, 31(1):47-69. DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2023.2255833


Puleo, L and Piccolino, G. (2022). Back to the post-fascist past or landing in the populist radical right? The Brothers of Italy Between Continuity and Change. South European Society and Politics, 27(3):359-383 DOI: 10.1080/13608746.2022.2126247