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Gessica de Freitas

Ph.D. Candidate and Presidential Fellow
University of Notre Dame
Kellogg Institute for International Studies Affiliate
Representation and Politics in Legislatures Lab
2060 Jenkins Nanovic Halls, Notre Dame
Gessica de Freitas is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in Comparative Politics and Methods. She was awarded a Presidential Fellowship from the University. She has an MA in Political Science from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP-Brazil). Her master's thesis explores the endogenous institutional changes Brazilian parliamentarians implemented in federal legislative houses in the recent democratic period. His PhD dissertation explores changes in the balance of Executive-Legislative relations in Latin America, focusing on the strengthening of Congresses as legislative institutions despite a legacy of executive centralization. She has presented her work at several conferences, such as the American, the Midwest, and the Southern Political Science Associations (APSA, MPSA, and SPSA), the Latin American Association of Political Science (ALACIP), the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), and the Brazilian Association of Political Science (ABCP). She published work in the British Journal of Political Science (BJPS), the Em Sociedade, and the CAOS journals.

SHORT BIO

Education

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
Presidential Fellow.Kellogg Institute for International Studies Affiliate Representation and Politics in Legislatures Lab

2023-Present

M.A. Political Science, State University of Campinas.

2023

Master Thesis: “Three decades of institutional changes: how did parliamentarians change the rules of the Brazilian decision-making process post-1988?.”Master's Research Scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

2019

B.A. Social Sciences with a focus on Political Science, State University of Campinas.
Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).
M.A. Political Science, University of Notre Dame.

2025

Publications

Master Thesis

Três décadas de mudanças institucionais: como parlamentares alteraram as regras do processo decisório brasileiro pós-1988? Dissertação (Mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, 2023.

2023

Articles

2024

Desigualdades de raça e gênero entre cientistas sociais, with Otávio Catelano, Mariana Chaguri and Marcia Rangel Candido. Em Sociedade 5(2): 9–24.

2023

Política se aprende jogando: o jogo FuraCâmara e a educação política de jovens em tempos de pandemia, with Matheus Schulze, Beatriz Mezzalira and Camila Cassis. Revista Parlamento E Sociedade. 11(20), 139–159.

Books Chapters

2023

‘“Uma Fraquejada?” Produção legislativa sobre gênero no Brasil em contexto conservador, with Vitor Vasquez and Mariana Zuaneti Martins. In Partidos e Instituições Políticas no Brasil contemporâneo. Atena Editora.

Research Reports and Notes

De Guardianes a Espectadores: Supervisión Legislativa y Resiliencia Democrática en América Latina, with Sergio Huertas-Hernández.

2025

2023

Futuros do Trabalho nas Ciências Sociais: Relatório de Pesquisa, with Mariana Chaguri, Marcia Rangel Candido e Otávio Catelano.

2025

The Consequences of Elite Action Against Elections with Rachel Porter, Jeffrey J. Harden, Emily Anderson, Mackenzie Dobson, Abigail Hemmen and Emma Schroeder. British Journal of Political Science. doi:10.1017/S0007123425100926



Teaching

2024

2022

2021

Teaching Assistant, Department of Social Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp) - “Comparative Political Regimes and Systems.”
Teaching Assistant, Department of Social Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp) - “Theory and Research in Political Science.”
Short-Course Instructor, Department of Political Science, State University of Campinas (Unicamp) - “Introduction to R: Data Analysis for Social Sciences.”

2024

Teaching Assistant and discussion section Coordinator, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame - “World Politics: An Introduction to Comparative Politics.”
Teaching Assistant, Graduate Course, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame - “Regression I.”

2025

2025

Excellence in Teaching Award for Fall 2024
Political Science Department, University of Notre Dame

Working Papers

Backsliding Halted, Democracy Recovered? The Case of Post-Erosion Brazil, with Marianne Kneuer.
Congressional-Initiated Democratic Backsliding in Latin America, with Scott Mainwaring.
The Politics of Reform: The Distributive Power of Endogenous Institutional Changes in the Brazilian Congress.
How do voters choose their candidates for Congress in proportional multiparty systems? Evidence from a conjoint experiment
Why do Players Change the Rules of the Game? Evidence from Constitutional Reforms in Brazil, with Danilo Medeiros.
Crise política, renovação institucional: uma revisão sistemática da literatura de mudanças institucionais em sistemas políticos, with Pedro Henrique Reis Pereira.
Phone
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574-303-3779
2051 Jenkins Nanovic Hall Notre Dame, Indiana, 46556
Mon - Fri 9am - 6pm Sat 9am - 1pm
Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Powered by Domain.com.
Crise política, renovação institucional: uma revisão sistemática da literatura de mudanças institucionais em sistemas políticos, with Pedro Henrique Reis Pereira.

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