A Database and Index for Political Polarization in the EU

In many European countries, political parties at the extreme left or right of the political spectrum have gained votes in democratic elections. This process is widely referred to as growing political polarization. Sebastian Müller and Gunther Schnabl published a database for political polarization that covers the parliamentary elections in the EU-27 countries and in the United Kingdom since 1990. The aggregated index as well as the sub-indices provide evidence for an increasing and persistent political polarization.