About

Géssica de Freitas is a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in Comparative Politics and Methods. She studies institutional changes in politics, institutional stability and crisis, decision-making, and governability. More specifically, her research agenda examines the interactions between political actors and the institutions of which they are part, seeking to understand how institutions constrain behavior at the same time that actors shape and modify institutions (endogenous institutional changes), with a regional focus on Latin America. A five-year Presidential Fellowship from the Graduate School of Notre Dame has supported Géssica's work. 

She has an MA in Political Science from the University of State Campinas (UNICAMP - Brazil). Her master's thesis explores the endogenous institutional changes Brazilian parliamentarians implemented in federal legislative branches in the recent democratic period. She also holds a BA in Political Science from the same University. From 2021 to 2023, Géssica worked as a Research Assistant for the Center for Studies on Public Opinion (CESOP - UNICAMP - Brazil) and for the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences (ANPOCS - Brazil).

She is currently a research affiliate of the Representation and Politics in Legislatures Lab and of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

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