Dylan Paltra

Congratulations! 🎉

🚨 Join us for the next edition Summer School for Women* in Political Methodology in Mannheim 🚨

7 days of hands-on advanced methods + networking for PhDs, postdocs & early-career researchers.
Free of charge (limited travel support).

Deadline 1 March 2026: summerschoolwpm.org
#methodsky #polisky

I am happy to announce that I have joined the team of Politische Vierteljahresschrift / German Political Science Quarterly @pvs-journal.bsky.social as Managing Editor alongside the new Editor-in-Chief Marc Debus. I will assist Marc and the team of Associate Editors in managing this great journal.

BJPolS abstract of a scholarly article discussing the influence of legislators' gender on the questioning behaviors in parliamentary activities.

NEW -

Gender Bias in Legislative Oversight: Do Parliamentarians Control Women Ministers More Tightly than Men Ministers? - https://cup.org/45Rm9Z6

- @corinnakroeber.bsky.social, @lenastephan.bsky.social, @sarahdingler.bsky.social & @camilamontero.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

Diese Studie ist eine Sensation: Heike Klüver hat 1.237 Regierungen in 57 Demokratien über 50 Jahre ausgewertet. Die Schlüsselfrage: Werden Rechtsextreme „entzaubert“, wenn sie mitregieren?

Die Antwort – eindeutig: Nein. Sobald rechtsextreme Parteien an der Regierung sitzen, profitieren sie.

🎊 I successfully defended my PhD at the University of Mannheim yesterday! Huge thanks to my fantastic supervisors, Christian Stecker (@pluggedchris.bsky.social) and Chris Arnold (@chrisguarnold.bsky.social), for guiding and supporting me every step of the way!
#multimodaldata #politicalbehaviour

Allow me to translate: “it’s okay to kill these people because they’re queers”

Abstract for the publication "Does Hard Propaganda (Also) Work in Democracies? Evidence from the United States"

📄 New paper out in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social with my amazing co-author @plutscher.bsky.social !

💡 Ever wondered if authoritarian strongman messaging also works in democracies? We find that, yes, it did under Trump during the BLM protests in the U.S. in 2020.

polisky csssky socsky commsky

Populism and governmentalism as thin-centered ideologies: Emotions and frames on social media | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Populism and governmentalism as thin-centered ideologies: Emotions and frames on social media

Fear, anger, and populism on Twitter/X 😡

Using machine learning on 1M UK tweets, @giulianoformisano.bsky.social, Jörg Friedrichs, Florian S. Schaffner & Niklas Stoehr seperate #Populist from #Governmentalist rhetoric and track how emotions drive #PoliticalCommunication

🚨 Postdoc in Comparative Politics/Public Opinion (2 years)

We’re hiring a 100% Postdoc at the University of Greifswald.

✨ What makes this job special: Two full years to focus on research (no teaching, no admin overload) embedded into an International Research Training Group

Thank you Corinna :)!

Thank you Lena for the kind words!:)

Thanks Koichi!:)

Thanks Klaudia :)!

Thank you Semih! :)

Thanks Mike!:)

If you are curious to learn more about how cultural issues and the AfD shape affective polarization in Germany, you can find our open-access 🔓 article here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I really want to thank my co-authors for all the guidance and support they have given me during the process. This paper means a lot to me personally, and I’m thrilled that it has finally been published. (6/7) 🧵

Figure 6 of the article. The predicted values show how influential the AfD’s role is for levels of affective polarization.

Our results show that the AfD is a key driver behind the elevated levels of affective polarization we observe. (5/7) 🧵

Figure 4 of the article. The coefficient plot shows how the AfD, as a "cultural entrepreneur," drives levels of affective polarization, beyond the general effect of party polarization on the cultural dimension.

Looking at the economic and cultural dimensions, we identify the far-right AfD as a “cultural entrepreneur” in Germany, translating divisions into affective polarization. (4/7) 🧵

Figure 2 of the article. The coefficient plot shows how party polarization has a significant influence on affective polarization across different model specifications.

We find that party polarization has a significant influence on affective polarization, which has been rising for years. (3/7) 🧵

Figure 2 of the article. It shows the level of affective polarization in Germany across all states and how it developed over the last 20 years.

Using more than 100 surveys and wordscores from party manifestos spanning 20 years of German state elections, we trace how affective polarization has evolved and how party polarization contributes to it. (2/7) 🧵

Cover page of the article. "Affective States: Cultural and Affective Polarization in a Multilevel-Multiparty System" by Dylan Paltra, Marius Sältzer and Christian Stecker. "Affective Polarization—the growing mutual dislike among partisan groups—has been identified as a major concern in democracies. Although both economic and cultural ideological divides contribute to ideological polarization, their affective consequences can differ. This paper argues that cultural polarization becomes especially consequential when mobilized by far-right parties. Using data from 116 elections in Germany’s 16 states (1990-2023), we combine more than 550 state-level manifestos with more than 150,000 survey responses to examine how party polarization translates into voter affect. Our analyses show that both economic and cultural polarization increase affective divides, but cultural disagreements fuel hostility only in the presence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Acting as a cultural entrepreneur, the AfD amplifies the emotional impact of cultural divisions such as immigration, employing affective rhetoric and provoking strong rejection from other parties and voters. These findings highlight the catalytic role of far-right parties in transforming ideological competition into affective polarization."

🚨Publication Alert!
My first first-author publication with @msaeltzer.bsky.social and @pluggedchris.bsky.social is out in @polbehavior.bsky.social, which began as my bachelor's thesis. We study how party polarization shapes affective polarization—with a particularly important role of the AfD. (1/7)🧵

Figure 6 of the article. The predicted values show how crucial the role of the AfD for the effects of party polarization are and how they are a "cultural entrepreneur".

Our results show that the AfD is a key driver behind the elevated levels of affective polarization we observe. (5/7) 🧵

Figure 4 of the article. The coefficient plot shows more specific evidence looking at the different dimensions of the political space, the economic and the cultural dimension.

Looking at the economic and cultural dimensions, we identify the far right AfD as a “cultural entrepreneur” in Germany translating divisions into affective polarization. (4/7) 🧵

Figure 3 of the article. The figure shows a coefficient plot with four different model specifications. It presents evidence for the effects of party polarization on affective polarization as well as the special role the AfD has.

We find that party polarization has a significant influence on affective polarization, which has been rising for years. (3/7) 🧵

Figure 2 of the article. The figure shows levels of affective polarization across all German states.

Using more than 100 surveys and wordscores from party manifestos across 20 years of German state elections, we trace how affective polarization has evolved and how party polarization contributes to it. (2/7) 🧵

🔔Job Alert 🔔
Thrilled to share that @stefaniebailer.bsky.social and I have been awarded 1.5 million CHF in SNSF funding for our new project: “Electoral choice: Which role does legislators’ quality play?”
We’re recruiting 1 postdoc and 2 PhD candidates to join us in Basel and Geneva!

The photo shows the front of the main building of the University of Zurich.

Excited to be back at my alma mater, the University of Zurich, for the Digital Democracy Workshop! Looking forward to two days of interesting presentations, reconnecting with familiar faces, and meeting new ones.
Thank you very much for hosting me @karstendonnay.bsky.social over the week!

Ich kotze. „Fragen Sie mal Ihre Töchter“, entgegnet Merz einen Journalisten, der nachfragt, ob eine Entschuldigung angemessen wäre.

Zur Erinnerung: Junge Frauen haben die CDU kaum gewählt. Die Merz-Regierung macht keinerlei Gleichstellungspolitik.

Aber Frauen für Rassismus instrumentalisieren.