@misc{9233129,
  abstract     = {{This thesis looks into how ideological polarisation of party systems (X) influences affective polarisation (Y) on the individual level. Taking off from social identity theory, I assume that larger ideological divergence between parties fosters more emotionally charged evaluations of political opponents because of identity-based in-group and out-group dynamics as well as due to being by virtue differences in beliefs. The latter are exemplified against the rise of cultural cleavages in political campaigns, which centralise more sensitive issues than traditional economic ones. Using data from Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems, the sample consists of around 170 thousand individual observations in 300 regions, nested in 29 European countries, throughout 115 elections from 1996 to 2021. Running three-level hierarchical models (individual-region-country), I found high heterogeneity between countries in both baseline affect levels and the slopes of the focal relationship that rejected any clear pan-European trends. Income inequality had no statistically significant average effect on affect, although individual extremism average estimates held positive, significant, and nearly identical both between- and within-countries. While the influence of party ideology on individual affect seems substantially contingent on political contexts, the extremity of individual beliefs reliably contributes to higher affect even when controlling for space and time.}},
  author       = {{Ramanauskas, Saulius Simonas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Effect of Party System Ideological Polarisation on Individual Affective Polarisation in Europe: Multilevel Evidence from 29 Countries from 1996 to 2021}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}