Tom W. Etienne
- Doctoral Candidate
Tom W. Etienne is a joint PhD candidate in Political Science and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His research centers on the role of ideology in public opinion on security topics, with a focus on political linkages between Europe and the United States.
He earned an M.Sc. in political geography from the University of Amsterdam, where he also completed additional coursework in public international law. He then worked at the Amsterdam-based research institute Kieskompas (Election Compass), conducting large-N opinion research and developing voting advice applications (VAAs) across multiple countries. These experiences continue to inform his research design and data infrastructure work, including the publication of VAA datasets for public use. During his PhD at Penn, he also completed an M.A. in Statistics and Data Science at Wharton.
His dissertation examines how the global reach of U.S. political news exposes foreign publics to U.S. domestic politics and fosters the adoption of U.S.-based political identities abroad. Drawing on interdependence theory and public diplomacy, he argues that these audiences increasingly respond to American elite cues in ways that mirror domestic partisan dynamics, generating new avenues for cross-border political influence.
His research has been published or is forthcoming in journals including International Studies Quarterly, European Union Politics, Acta Politica, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Nature Scientific Data. He has also collaborated on large international projects published in venues such as Nature Communications and Nature Human Behaviour. His work has been commissioned by NATO, government ministries, national media outlets, advocacy organizations, and think tanks such as the Clingendael Institute and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and has been cited in Dutch parliamentary commissions of inquiry.
Education
- B.Sc., Hasselt University, 2015
- M.Sc., University of Amsterdam, 2016
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MA, University of Pennsylvania, 2025
Selected Publications
Etienne, T., Onderco, M., Destradi, S., & Krouwel, A. (2026). Populist publics’ affinity for nuclear weapons? Explaining op‑position to the nuclear sharing weapons in European populist publics. International Studies Quarterly, 70(1), 1‑18. doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqaf093
Etienne, T., Bennett, N. V., Markis‑McLean, L., Furstein, R. A., Kutiyski, Y., van Lindert, J., Pasquier, A. C., Moreda Laguna, O., Thomeczek, J. P., & Krouwel, A. P. M. (2025). A Global Voting Advice Application for the US Election Aimed at Foreign Audiences. Nature Scientific Data. doi.org/10.1038/s41597‑025‑06333‑6
Abts, K., Etienne, T., Kutiyski, Y., & Krouwel, A. (2023). EU‑sentiment predicts the 2016 Dutch referendum vote on the EU’s association with Ukraine better than concerns about Russia or national discontent. European Union Politics, 24(3), 494‑515. doi.org/10.1177/14651165231157612
Onderco, M., Smetana, M., & Etienne, T. (2023). Hawks in the Making: European public views on nuclear weapons post‑Ukraine. Global Policy, 14(2), 305‑317. doi,org/10.1111/1758‑5899.13179
Onderco, M., Etienne, T., & Smetana, M. (2022). Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons Use Preferences in Europe. Foreign Policy Analysis, 18(4), 1‑21. doi.org/10.1093/fpa/orac022
Coverage of Civilian Casualties in Allied Countries Boosts Support for U.S. Involvement
A new paper by researchers at the Annenberg School finds that media coverage of civilian casualties in world conflicts increases public support for U.S. involvement, but only when the casualties are civilians from an ally, not an adversary, country.
