The Italian Journal of Electoral Studies (IJES) invites submissions for a Special Issue devoted to the 2027 Italian General Election.

Italian elections have long provided fertile ground for the study of broader processes of political and electoral change. The 2027 general election offers a new opportunity to investigate the evolution of party competition, electoral behaviour, political representation and campaigning in Italy, while contributing to wider debates in comparative electoral studies.

The Special Issue welcomes theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded contributions examining the election from a wide range of perspectives. In particular, we encourage papers that use evidence from the 2027 election not only to explain developments in Italy but also to engage with broader questions concerning elections and democratic politics.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• voting behaviour and electoral choice, including the social, ideological and political determinants of voting;
• electoral participation, abstention and mobilization;
• party competition and the changing structure of the Italian party system;
• electoral coalitions, strategic coordination and competition within and between political blocs;
• electoral campaigns, campaign strategies and issue competition;
• political communication, including television, social media and digital campaigning;
• political leadership and candidate effects;
• economic voting and retrospective evaluations of government performance;
• political attitudes, ideology and issue preferences;
• territorial patterns of electoral competition and geographical electoral divides;
• generational, gender, educational, occupational and class differences in voting behaviour;
• populism, anti-establishment politics and changing forms of political representation;
• candidate selection, parliamentary representation and electoral outcomes;
• the effects of electoral rules and electoral institutions on party strategies and voter behaviour;
• campaign agendas and the role of specific policy issues in electoral competition;
• electoral volatility, party switching and changes in partisan attachments;
• comparative analyses placing the 2027 Italian election in a broader European or international perspective;
• methodological innovations in the study of elections, including the use of surveys, experiments, digital trace data, aggregate electoral data, text analysis or other approaches.

This list is illustrative rather than exhaustive. Contributions addressing other aspects of the election that are relevant to the study of electoral politics are welcome.

What we are looking for

The Special Issue is intended to go beyond a descriptive account of the election. We particularly welcome contributions that:

• formulate a clear research question grounded in the literature on elections and political behaviour;
• use the Italian case to test, refine or develop arguments of broader theoretical relevance;
• employ appropriate and transparent empirical methods;
• where possible, place the 2027 election in comparative or longitudinal perspective.

Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are welcome, as are papers combining different types of evidence.

Submission process

Authors interested in contributing to the Special Issue are invited to submit an abstract of maximum 300 words by December 31, 2026.

Abstracts should include the research question, theoretical argument, data and methodology, and the expected contribution of the paper.

Authors whose proposals are selected will be invited to submit a full manuscript.

All manuscripts will undergo the journal's standard peer-review process. Invitation to submit a full manuscript does not imply acceptance for publication.

The Special Issue is expected to be published in issue 2/2027 or 1/2028, depending on whether the election is held in the Spring or in the Fall.

Submissions and enquiries should be sent to the IJES Editors or the Journal editorial team.