Gina Aniano

I am Gina Aniano, a PhD in Political Science at the University of Barcelona and a Predoctoral Researcher for the COMPROMISE Project (PI: Macarena Ares) with additional supervision from Jordi Muñoz. I am affiliated with the Institutions and Political Economy Research Center (IPERC) and the Q-Dem Research Group.

My research focuses on political socialization and how formative political experiences shape support for democracy, regime change, and far-right politics, with broader interests in political behavior, political psychology, and comparative politics. 

My PhD thesis consists of three papers examining how attitudes toward democracy and the far right are formed, transmitted, and politically activated. The first paper (co-authored with Anja Neundorf) studies the role of formative economic experiences during democratic backsliding for the formation of democratic support. The second examines the intergenerational transmission of authoritarian values, focusing on how parental exposure to GDR socialization and post-reunification economic shock shapes youth support for the AfD in Germany. The third analyzes how mainstream party strategies shape the legitimacy of far-right parties among voters. Methodologically, I rely on a range of cross-sectional observational data, panel data, and novel survey experiments.

Additionally, I have conducted research stays at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin as part of the DYNAMICS program, as well as at the University of Glasgow within the College of Social Sciences.

For more information about my research, please visit my CV [here] or contact me at ginaaniano@ub.edu.