Gessica de Freitas

Gessica de Freitas is a Ph.D. student 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 University of State Campinas (UNICAMP-Brazil). Her master's thesis explores the endogenous institutional changes Brazilian parliamentarians implemented in federal legislative houses in the recent democractic period.

Her PhD dissertation seeks to explore changes in the balance of Executive-Legislative relations in Latin America, with the strengthening of Congresses as legislative institutions, despite a legacy of executive centralization left by dictatorial regimes, and its impacts on Democratic stability.

She has presented her work at several conferences, such as the Brazilian Association of Political Science (ABCP), the National Association of Postgraduate Studies in Social Sciences ( ANPOCS), the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), and the Latin American Association of Political Science (ALACIP).

SHORT BIO

Ph.D. student, 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).

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.

The Consequences of Elite Action Against Elections with Rachel Porter, Jeffrey J. Harden, Emily Anderson, Mackenzie Dobson, Abigail Hemmen and Emma Schroeder. Accepted for Publication at The British Journal of Political Science.

2025

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 2024Political Science Department, University of Notre Dame

Backsliding Halted, Democracy Recovered? The Case of Post-Erosion Brazil, with Marianne Kneuer.

Congressional-Initiated Democratic Backsliding in Latin America, with Scott Mainwaring. Under Review.

The Politics of Reform: The Distributive Power of Endogenous Institutional Changes in the Brazilian Congress.

Vote in the legislature: Party, Ideology, budget amendments, or something else? Under Review.

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. 

Gessica de Freitas

Ph.D. Student and Presidential Fellow

University of Notre Dame

Kellogg Institute for International Studies Affiliate

Representation and Politics in Legislatures Lab

SHORT BIO

Education

Ph.D. student, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame

2023-Present

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

2023

2019

B.A. Social Sciences with a focus on Political Science, State University of Campinas.

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.

The Consequences of Elite Action Against Elections with Rachel Porter, Jeffrey J. Harden, Emily Anderson, Mackenzie Dobson, Abigail Hemmen and Emma Schroeder. Accepted for Publication at The British Journal of Political Science.

2025

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. Under Review.

The Politics of Reform: The Distributive Power of Endogenous Institutional Changes in the Brazilian Congress.

Vote in the legislature: Party, Ideology, budget amendments, or something else? Under Review.

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.

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

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

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.

‘“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.

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

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