I am a Research Fellow at KU Leuven. Previously, I was a Senior Researcher and Guest Professor of Quantitative Methods at KU Leuven, following a joint PhD in Political Science at KU Leuven and University of Antwerp and visiting fellowships at University of Vienna and Aarhus University.
My research is primarily situated in the fields of political behavior and comparative politics, with a strong focus on quantitative methods and commitment to open science. In my doctoral dissertation, I studied under which conditions affective polarization matters for European politics and democracy, and contrasted it with the U.S.’ two-party system. Through six empirical articles, my research finds that Europe’s multiparty systems contain particular levers that can channel partisan animosity toward defending democratic norms rather than eroding them. However, this resilience is contingent: if elites fail to cooperate or abdicate their role as gatekeepers of democracy, politics can harden into a binary clash, placing even multiparty systems at risk of democratic decline.
Beyond lectures and invited talks, I have shared my research with wider audiences through live national radio (Radio 1) and several media outlets, including De Tijd, De Morgen, Het Laatste Nieuws, Télésambre, 7sur7, BRF Nachrichten, Grenz-Echo, and Kleine Zeitung.
Links to open-access versions of my doctoral dissertation
and five international peer-reviewed articles are provided
below.
Doctoral Dissertation
Beyond the Two-Party Divide: How Coalition
Dynamics and Ideological Orientations Redefine Affective
Polarization in Europe
Vanagt (2026) Open-Access
International Peer-Reviewed Publications
Partisan Affect and Political Tolerance in the
Context of Shifting Norms: The Effect of Coalition Signals
towards the Radical Right
Vanagt, Praprotnik,
Russo
& Wagner
(2025) Journal of European Public Policy
Open-Access
Article | Replication
Files
United in Success, Fragmented in Failure: The
Moderating Effect of Perceived Government Performance on
Affective Polarization between Coalition
Parties
Vanagt & Kollberg (2025)
European Journal of Political Research
Open-Access
Article | Replication
Files
The Economic Divide That Isn’t: A Comparative
Study on Economic Hardship and Affective
Polarization
Vanagt & Russo
(2024) Research & Politics
Open-Access
Article | Replication
Files
Affective Polarization Among Radical-Right
Supporters: Dislike Differentiation and Democratic
Support
Vanagt, Praprotnik,
Russo
& Wagner
(2024) Politics and Governance
Open-Access
Article | Replication
Files
Appraising Measurements of Affective Polarization
in Multiparty Systems: Comparative Insights from the Low
Countries
Vanagt (2024) Politics of the Low Countries
Open-Access
Article
Work in Progress
The Low Countries (Belgium & the
Netherlands): Balancing National Diversity with
Supranational Integration
Forthcoming | Eck
& Vanagt. In Comparative European Politics
(Taylor & Francis Group)
Reversing Radical-Right Normalization: Evidence
from a Natural Quasi-Experiment
Under Review | Vanagt, Jacobs,
Eck
& Pilet
Rethinking Political Identity in Europe: Partisan
and Ideological Attachment in Times of Affective
Polarization
Under Review | Russo
& Vanagt
Let’s (Not) Disagree: How Tolerance for
Disagreement Shapes Horizontal Affective
Polarization
Under Review | Russo
& Vanagt | Pre-Print
Public support for the cordon sanitaire in
Belgium. Exploring the impact of
institutionalization
Working Paper | Eck,
Pilet,
Jacobs
& Vanagt