Samuel A. T. Johnston

I am currently an ERC Fellow in Politics working on the ELECT project at University College Dublin, having completed my PhD in Trinity College Dublin in 2022. My research focuses on how politicians and parties make decisions, with a particular focus on how their environment impacts decision-making, and how their own norms and values do. In the first vein, my PhD thesis focused on how the EU influences the different forms of nationalism utilised by political parties. Contrary to the common understanding of the EU's role, my thesis suggested that, rather than a backlash to EU integration resulting in forms of nationalism related to the central state (e.g., anti-immigration or anti-ethnic minority rhetoric, or kin-state appeals focused on ethnic kin or territory in neighbouring countries) becoming more salient in party communication, the EU instead discourages these forms of nationalism and incentivises parties to focus on other forms of identity, especially at the sub-national level. In addition, I have also examined the impact of low information environments on candidate decision-making. In the second vein, through the ELECT project, we are examining the impact of normative considerations on decision-making during campaigns for candidates, party staffers, journalists, and citizens. This research covers four countries (the US, UK, Germany, and Italy), and I have responsibility for the UK case. 

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This research has been published in a variety of academic journals, including West European Politics, Party Politics, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Irish Political Studies. In addition, my PhD thesis was funded by the Irish Research Council. 

My teaching experience strongly reflects this research agenda, as I have taught both undergraduate and Masters modules on the EU, party politics, and Irish and Northern Irish politics.