Caterina Froio

Associate Professor

Caterina Froio (PhD EUI, 2015) is Associate Professor in Political Science/E-politics at Sciences Po (CEE) where she studies politics. This involves a reflection on the relationship between citizens & elites in contemporary democracies. Caterina is particularly interested in researching the role of political parties, social movements, media, right-wing extremism & populism in order to understand the changing dynamics of political conflict.

Caterina is also an affiliate researcher at the Centre for Research on Extremism (C-Rex), University of Oslo (since 2017) and editor of the Routledge series ‘Extremism & Democracy’ (since 2019).

Before joining Sciences Po, she held research and teaching positions at the University of Colorado at Boulder (Department of Political Science), the University of Oxford (Oxford Internet Institute) and the Catholic University of Lille (European School of Political and Social Sciences).

Since January 2025, she is the co-editor of the "European Journal of Political Research"

Research

Caterina is currently working on several projects:

WHAT DO THE PEOPLE WANT? ANALYSING ONLINE POPULIST CHALLENGES TO EUROPE (funded by the Volkswagen foundation in partnership with the Oxford Internet Institute and GESIS). The project examines how (digital) media exposure shapes political behaviour, notably support for far-right parties and nativist worldviews.
FROM THE BALLOTS TO THE STREETS: FAR RIGHT PROTEST MOBILIZATION IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES (funded by a SAB grant- Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques). The project explores the drivers and consequences of far-right mobilization in the aftermaths of the 2008 Great Recession.
AUTHLIB - Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response (funded by the Horizon Europe programme). The project explores diverse forms of opposition to democracy, as well as their social, psychological and historical causes, their organisational background and their political implications.

Publications

Books

1.Caterina Froio, Pietro Castelli Gattinara, Giorgia Bulli and Matteo Albanese. 2020. CasaPound Italia: Contemporary Extreme Right Politics Routledge: London–Abingdon.

2.Matteo Albanese, Giorgia Bulli, Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2014. Fascisti di un altro Millennio? Crisi e Partecipazione in CasaPound Italia Bonanno: Roma–Acireale.

Peer reviewed articles

1.Castelli Gattinara Pietro, Froio Caterina (2023). “When the Far right Makes the News. Protest Characteristics and Media Coverage of Far-right protest mobilization in Europe”. Comparative Polit- ical Studies . Accepted for publication.

2.Froio Caterina (2022). “The Rassemblement National and COVID-19: How Nativism, Authoritar- ianism and Expert Populism Did Not Pay Off during the Pandemic”. Government and Opposition. First view : Doi: 10.1017/gov.2022.12.

3.Kirkizh Nora, Caterina Froio, and Sebastian Stier (2022) ”Issue trade-offs and the politics of representation: Experimental evidence from four European democracies.” European Journal of Political Research . First view : Doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12558

4.Pedro Ramaciotti Morales, Jean-Philippe Cointet and Caterina Froio (2022). “Posters and Protesters. The networked interplay between onsite participation and Facebook activity in the Yellow Vests move- ment in France”. Journal of Computational Social Science. Apr(6): 1–29, Doi: 10.1007/s42001-022- 00163-x.

5.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio (2022). “Politicizing Europe on the far right: Anti-EU mobilization across the party and non-party sector in France.” Social Movement Studies. 21(1-2) : 199–215. Doi:10.1080/14742837.2021.1944851.

6.Castelli Gattinara Pietro, Caterina Froio and Andrea LP Pirro (2021). “Far-right protest mobili- sation in Europe: Grievances, opportunities and resources”. European Journal of Political Research . First view: Doi: doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12484.

7.Alice Cavalieri and Caterina Froio (2021) “The behaviour of populist parties in parliament. The policy agendas of populist and other political parties in the Italian question time”. Italian Political Science Reviewfirst view,1-14. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/ipo.2021.25.

8.Jean-Philippe Cointet, Pedro Ramaciotti Morales, Dominique Cardon, Caterina Froio, Andre¨ı Mogoutov, Benjamin Ooghe-Tabanou and Guillaume Plique. Accepted for publication. “De quelle(s) couleur(s) sont les gilets jaunes? Plonger des publications Facebook dans un espace id´eologique latent.” Statistique et Société.

9.Pedro Ramaciotti Morales, Jean-Philippe Cointet, Bilel Benbouzid, Dominique Cardon, Caterina Froio, Omer Faruk Metin, Benjamin Ooghe-Tabanou and Guillaume Plique. Accepted for publication. “Atlas Multi-Plateforme d’un Mouvement Social. Le cas des Gilets Jaunes.” Statistique et Soci´et´e.

10.Brendan J. Carroll, Jana Bertels, Caterina Froio, Sanneke Kuipers,Lena Schulze-Gabrechten and Scott Viallet-Th´evenin. 2020. “Between life and death: organizational change in central state bureaucracies in cross-national comparison.” International Review of Administrative Sciences . First view: 21(1-2). Doi:10.1177/0020852320964558.

11.Sebastian Stier, Caterina Froio and Wolf J. Schu¨nemann. 2020. “Going transnational? Can- didates’ transnational linkages on Twitter during the 2019 European Parliament elections.” West European Politics. First view. Doi:10.1080/01402382.2020.1812267.

12.Bharath Ganesh and Caterina Froio. 2020. “A Europe des Nations : far right imaginative geogra- phies and the politicization of cultural crisis on Twitter in Western Europe.” Journal of European Integration . 42(5): 715–732. Doi:10.1080/07036337.2020.1792462.

13.Sebastian Stier, Nora Kirkizh, Caterina Froio and Ralph Schroeder. 2020. “Populist Attitudes and Selective Exposure to Online News: A Cross-Country Analysis Combining Web Tracking and Surveys.” The International Journal of Press/Politics. 25(3): 426–446. Doi:10.1177/1940161220907018.

14.Caterina Froio and Bharath Ganesh. 2019. “The transnationalisation of far right discourse on Twitter: Issues and actors that cross borders in Western European democracies.” European Societies . 21(4): 513–539. Doi:10.1080/14616696.2018.1494295.

15.Matthijs Rooduijn, Stijn Van Kessel, Caterina Froio, Andrea L.P. Pirro, Sarah De Lange, Daphne Halikiopoulou, Paul Lewis, Cas Mudde and Paul Taggart. 2019. “The PopuList: An Overview of Populist, Far Right, Far Left and Eurosceptic Parties in Europe.” Online only.

16.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2019. “Getting‘right’into the news: grassroots far- right mobilization and media coverage in Italy and France.” Comparative European Politics . 17: 738– 758. Doi:10.1057/s41295-018-0123-4.

17.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2019. “Italy: Political Developments and Data for 2018.” European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook . 58(1): 149–161. Doi:10.1111/2047- 8852.12242.

18.Caterina Froio. 2018. “Race, religion, or culture? Framing Islam between racism and neo- racism in the online network of the French far right.” Perspectives on Politics. 16(3): 696–709. Doi:10.1017/S1537592718001573.

19.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2018. “Quand Les Identitaires font la une: Strat´egies de mobilisation et visibilit´e m´ediatique du Bloc Identitaire.” Revue Fran¸caise de Science Politique . 68(1): 103–119. Doi:10.3917/rfsp.681.0103.

20.Samuel Bouron and Caterina Froio. 2018. “Entrer en politique par la bande médiatique?.” Questions de Communication. 1: 209–229.

21.Sylvain Brouard, Emiliano Grossman, Isabelle Guinaudeau, Simon Persico and Caterina Froio. 2018. “Do party manifestos matter in policy-making? Capacities, incentives and outcomes of electoral programmes in France.” Political Studies. 66(4): 903–921. Doi:10.1177/0032321717745433.

22.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2018. “Italy: Political Developments and Data for 2017.” European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook . 57(1): 156–161. Doi:10.1111/2047- 8852.12206.

23.Caterina Froio. 2017. “Nous et les autres. L’alt´erit´e sur les sites web des extrêmes droites en France.” Reseaux . 202(2/3): 39–78. Doi:10.3917/res.202.0039.

24.Caterina Froio. 2017. “Comparer les droites extrˆemes.” Revue Internationale de Politique compar´ee. 24(4): 373–399. Doi:10.3917/ripc.244.0373.

25.Castelli Gattinara Pietro and Caterina Froio. 2017. “Comunicazione del terzo millennio? La politica mediatizzata di CasaPound Italia.” Comunicazione Politica. 18(1): 55–76. Doi:10.3270/86129.

26.Caterina Froio, Shaun Bevan and Will Jennings. 2017. “Party mandates and the politics of atten- tion: party platforms, public priorities and the policy agenda in Britain.” Party Politics. 23(6): 692– 703. Doi:10.1177/1354068815625228.

27.Caterina Froio and Pietro Castelli Gattinara. 2016. “Direct Social Actions and Far Right Mobilization: The Relationship between ideas and action in the extreme right.” Partecipazione e Conflitto . 9(3):online. Doi:10.1285/i20356609v9i3p1040.

28.Caterina Froio and Pietro Castelli Gattinara. 2015. “Neo-fascist mobilization in contemporary Italy. Ideology and repertoire of action of CasaPound Italia.” Journal for Deradicalization. 2: 86–118.

29.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2014. “Discourse and practice of violence in the Italian extreme right: frames, symbols, and identity-building in CasaPound Italia.” International Journal of Conflict and Violence . 8(1) 154–170. Doi:10.4119/ijcv-3051.

30.Pietro Castelli Gattinara, Caterina Froio and Matteo Albanese. 2013. “The appeal of neo-fascism in times of crisis. The experience of CasaPound Italia.” Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies . 2(2) 234–258. Doi:10.1163/22116257-00202007.

31.Caterina Froio. 2013. “What is left for parties? An overview of party mandate in France 1981–2009.” French Politics . 11(1) 98–116. Doi:10.1057/fp.2013.3.

32.Simon Persico, Caterina Froio and Isabelle Guinaudeau. 2012. “Action publique et partis poli- tiques.” Gouvernement et action publique . 1(1) 11–35. Doi:10.3917/gap.121.0011.

Book chapters

1.Caterina Froio. 2022. “Right-wing populism/Right-wing populist movements” in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements , eds David A. Snow, Donatella della Porta, Bert Klandermans and Doug McAdam. Wiley-Blackwell: Hoboken, New Jersey.

2.Bharath Ganesh and Caterina Froio. Forthcoming. “A Europe des Nations: far right imaginative geographies and the politicization of cultural crisis on Twitter in Western Europe” Crisis and Politi- cisation: The Framing and Re-framing of Europe’s Permanent Crisis , eds Benedetta Voltolini, Michal Natorski and Colin Hay. Routledge: London-Abingdon.

3.Bharath Ganesh and Caterina Froio. Forthcoming. “Transnational Far Right Radicalisation on Social Media: Integrating Social Network Analysis and Discourse Analysis to study Far Right Digital Publics on Twitter” Radicalisation in Comparative Perspective , eds Akin Awal and James R. Lewis. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

4.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2022. “Italy: The mainstream right and its al- lies, 1994-2018” The Mainstream right in Western Europe. Caught between Silent and Counter-Silent Revolutions , eds Tim Bale and Crist´obal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

5.Caterina Froio. 2020. “Italy: The interactions between populist, mainstream right and mainstream left political parties” in Populism and New Patterns of Political Competition in Western Europe , eds Daniele Albertazzi and Davide Vampa. Routledge: London-Abingdon.

6.Bharath Ganesh and Caterina Froio. 2019. “The Far Right Across Borders: Networks and Issues of (Trans) National Cooperation in Western Europe on Twitter” Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right , eds by Maik Fielitz and Nick Thurston. Transcript: Bielefeld.

7.Caterina Froio. 2016. “Who are ‘they’? Continuities and Changes in the Discourse of CasaPound Italia on Migration and Otherness” in Troubles on the Far right, eds Maik Fielitz and Laura Lotte Laloire. Transcript: Bielefeld.

8.Caterina Froio and Conor E. Little. 2015. “Responsible government and representation in the Eurocrisis” in Party Politics and Democracy in Europe Essays in honour of Peter Mair, eds Ferdinand Muller-Rommel and Fernando Casal B´ertoa. Transcript: Bielefeld.

Databases

1.Matthijs Rooduijn, Stijn Van Kessel, Caterina Froio, Andrea L.P. Pirro, Sarah De Lange, Daphne Halikiopoulou, Paul Lewis, Cas Mudde and Paul Taggart (2019, updated yearly). “The PopuList: An Overview of Populist, Far Right, Far Left and Eurosceptic Parties in Europe.” https://popu-list. org/ .

2.Castelli Gattinara Pietro, Caterina Froio and Andrea LP Pirro (2021 updated yearly). “Far- right protest mobilisation in Europe: Grievances, opportunities and resources”. https://ejpr. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1475-6765.12484 .

3.Alice Cavalieri and Caterina Froio (2021) “The behaviour of populist parties in parliament. The policy agendas of populist and other political parties in the Italian question time”. https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/ESIQ1N .

4.Caterina Froio (2018). “Race, religion, or culture? Framing Islam between racism and neo-racism in the online network of the French far right.”

Funded research reports

1.Dominique Cardon, Caterina Froio, Benjamin Tainturier, Andre¨ı Mogoutov, Charles de Dampierre, Bilel Benbouzid, Alexis Perrier and Jean-Philippe Cointet. 2021. “L’empreinte antis´emite dans l’espace Youtube fran¸cais” in Rapport Annuel sur la Lutte contre le Racisme, l’Antis´emitisme et la X´enophobie , Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme (CNCDH).

2.Caterina Froio, Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Tommaso Vitale. 2020. “L’extrˆeme droite est-elle le porte-voix du malaise des quartiers populaires ?” Chaire Citoyennet´e, Sciences Po Saint-Germain- en-Laye.

3.Pietro Castelli Gattinara, Caterina Froio and Tommaso Vitale. 2019. “Davvero CasaPound d`a voce al disagio delle periferie ?” Rivista Il Mulino, Il Mulino.

4.Caterina Froio. 2017. “Le Cyberspace Identitaire. Configurations, protagonistes et contenus des r´eseaux internet de l’extrˆeme droite en France” Rapport de Recherche pour la bourse sur la xénophobie et l’antisémitisme , Ville de Paris.

5.Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Caterina Froio. 2014. “Opposition in the EU and opposition to the EU: Soft and hard Euroscepticism in Italy in the time of austerity” IED Research Reports Series, European Parliament.

6.Jamie Bartlett, Caterina Froio, Mark Littler and Duncan McDonnell. 2013. “New Political Actors in Europe: Beppe Grillo and the Movimento 5 Stelle” Digital Populism in Europe, by Demos UK.

7.Jamie Bartlett, Jonathan Birdwell and Caterina Froio. 2013. “New Political Actors in Europe: CasaPound Italia” Digital Populism in Europe , Demos UK.

Teaching

Caterina Froio teaches courses on populism at Sciences Po's School of Public Affairs (EAP) and on the impact of digital technology on politics for Sciences Po's School of Research and Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA).

Since the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, she is the co-scientific coordinator of the Master in Political Science, Major in Comparative Politics at the School of Research.

To know more

Her publications are available on HAL, Academia and Researchgate.

Research Topics

Political conflict ; Political parties ; Political participation and social movements ; Media ; Right-wing extremism, radicalism and populism