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Political Science
Spain
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Political Science

D-Index
31
Citations
6300
World Ranking
1064
National Ranking
4

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Political Science in Spain Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Political Science in Spain Leader Award

Overview

Mariano Torcal is affiliated with Pompeu Fabra University in Spain and has a significant body of research within the social sciences, particularly focusing on political science and international relations. Their work spans several interconnected subfields, including communication, sociology and political science, economics and econometrics, and statistical and nonlinear physics.

Their research addresses multiple topics, with a considerable focus on electoral systems and political participation, social media and politics, populism and right-wing movements, social policy and reform studies, political theory and democracy, opinion dynamics and social influence, and gender politics and representation.

Among their recent publications are:

  • Affective Polarisation in Times of Political Instability and Conflict. Spain from a Comparative Perspective (2022) in South European Society & Politics
  • Ideological extremism, perceived party system polarization, and support for democracy (2022) in European Political Science Review
  • Ideological identity, issue-based ideology and bipolar affective polarization in multiparty systems: The cases of Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal and Spain (2023) in Electoral Studies
  • Political and affective polarisation in a democracy in crisis: The E-Dem panel survey dataset (Spain, 2018-2019) (2020) in Data in Brief
  • Responsiveness, Performance and Corruption: Reasons for the Decline of Political Trust (2021) in Frontiers in Political Science

Frequent coauthors in Mariano Torcal's research include:

  • Josep Maria Comellas
  • Emily Carty
  • Zoe A. Thomson
  • José Ramón Montero Gibert
  • Pedro C. Magalhães

Their publications have appeared regularly in journals such as:

  • Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas
  • South European Society & Politics
  • European Political Science Review
  • Electoral Studies
  • Data in Brief

Best Publications

  • Party System Institutionalization and Party System Theory: After the Third Wave of Democratization

    Scott Mainwaring;Mariano Torcal

  • Political Participation: Mapping the Terrain

    Jan Teorell;Mariano Torcal;José Ramón Montero

  • Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies: Social Capital, Institutions and Politics

    Mariano Torcal;José Ramón Montero

  • The Decline of Political Trust in Spain and Portugal Economic Performance or Political Responsiveness

    Mariano Torcal

  • The Political Recrafting of Social Bases of Party Competition: Chile, 1973-95

    Mariano Torcal;Scott Mainwaring

  • La institucionalización de los sistemas de partidos y la teoría del sistema partidista después de la tercera ola democratizadora

    Scott Mainwaring;Mariano Torcal

  • Democracy in Spain: Legitimacy, discontent, and disaffection

    José Ramón Montero;Richard Gunther;Mariano Torcal

  • Institutional trust and multilevel government in the European Union: Congruence or compensation?:

    Jordi Muñoz;Mariano Torcal;Eduard Bonet

  • Ciudadanos, asociaciones y participación en España

    José R. Montero;Joan Font;Mariano Torcal;Eva Anduiza Perea

  • Political confidence in representative democracies : Socio-cultural vs. political explanations

    Bas Denters;Oscar W. Gabriel;Mariano Torcal

  • Political Disaffection and Democratization History in New Democracies

    Mariano Torcal

  • Elite Strategy, Social Cleavages, and Party Systems in a New Democracy Spain

    Pradeep Chhibber;Mariano Torcal

  • Norms of good citizenship

    Bas Denters;Oscar W. Gabriel;Mariano Torcal

  • Teoria e institucionalização dos sistemas partidários após a terceira onda de democratização

    Scott Mainwaring;Mariano Torcal

  • Ideología y voto en España 1979-2000: los procesos de reconstrucción racional de la identificación ideológica

    Mariano Torcal;Lucía Medina

  • Political trust in Western and Southern Europe

    Mariano Torcal

  • Affective Polarisation in Times of Political Instability and Conflict. Spain from a Comparative Perspective

    Unknown

  • The Europeanization of National Polities?: Citizenship and Support in a Post-Enlargement Union

    David Sanders;Paolo Bellucci;Gábor Tóka;Mariano Torcal

  • LA PARTICIPACIÓN POLÍTICA EN ESPAÑA: MODOS Y NIVELES EN PERSPECTIVA COMPARADA

    Mariano Torcal;José Ramón Montero;Jan Teorell

  • The 2004 Spanish general election: In the shadow of Al-Qaeda?

    Mariano Torcal;Guillem Rico

  • Congruence, national context and trust in European institutions

    Mariano Torcal;Pablo Christmann

  • Word on the Street: The Persistence of Leftist-dominated Protest in Europe

    Mariano Torcal;Toni Rodon;María José Hierro

  • The Incumbent Electoral Defeat in the 2011 Spanish National Elections: The Effect of the Economic Crisis in an Ideological Polarized Party System

    Mariano Torcal

  • FACETS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN NEW DEMOCRACIES The Formation and Consequences of Social Capital in Spain

    Mariano Torcal;José Ramón Montero

  • Revisiting the Dark Side of Political Deliberation The Effects of Media and Political Discussion on Political Interest

    Mariano Torcal;Gerardo Maldonado

  • Trust across political conflicts: Evidence from a survey experiment in divided societies:

    Sergio Martini;Mariano Torcal

  • The Effects of Government System Fractionalization on Satisfaction With Democracy

    Pablo Christmann;Mariano Torcal

Frequent Co-Authors

José Ramón Montero
José Ramón Montero Autonomous University of Madrid
Scott Mainwaring
Scott Mainwaring University of Notre Dame
Oscar W. Gabriel
Oscar W. Gabriel University of Stuttgart
Richard Gunther
Richard Gunther The Ohio State University
David Sanders
David Sanders University of the Western Cape
Jan Teorell
Jan Teorell Stockholm University
Pradeep Chhibber
Pradeep Chhibber University of California, Berkeley

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