Joseph F. Cozza
Assistant Professor of Government
Biography
Joseph F. Cozza is an assistant professor of government with an emphasis in public law and comparative politics. His research and teaching interests include constitutional drafting and amendment, constitutional law, comparative courts and judicial systems, referendum processes, and party politics. He is particularly interested in examining how and when citizen participation and deliberation can enhance the legitimacy of democratic outcomes, especially in the constitutional arena. His work has been published in American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, and Electoral Studies, among others.
Before arriving at Smith, Joseph worked as an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Political Science and associate director of the Program in Politics, Law and Social Thought at Rice University. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas at Austin, his M.Sc. in comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and his B.S. from Villanova University. Before entering academia, he worked as a policy advisor in the Delaware State Senate and spent several years working on political campaigns.
Peer Reviewed Publications
Cozza, Joseph Francesco, Gonzalo Di Landro, Andrea Aldrich, and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2025 “A Rainbow Ceiling? Sexual Orientation and Pary Leadership Evaluations. British Journal of Political Science.
Cozza, Joseph Francesco. 2024. “Trust the Process: Citizen Participation, Procedural Legitimacy and Democratic Decision-Making in Constitutional Change.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties 1-22.
Blake, William D., Joseph Francesco Cozza, David A. Armstrong II, and Amanda Friesen. 2023. “Social Capital, Institutional Rules, and Constitutional Amendment Rates.” American Political Science Review, 1-9
Cozza, Joseph Francesco. 2021. “Authorizing Revolutionary Constitutional Change: The Approximation Thesis.” Constitutional Studies 7: 157-192
Cozza, Joseph Francesco, Zachary Elkins, and Alexander Hudson. 2021. “Reverse Mortgages and Aircraft Parts: The Arcane Referendum and the Limits of Citizen Competence.” Electoral Studies 74
Cozza, Joseph Francesco and Zeynep Somer-Topcu. 2021. “Membership Vote for Party Leadership Changes: Electoral Effects and the Causal Mechanisms Behind.” Electoral Studies 71: 1 – 12