Affective Polarisation in a Multipartism: Party over Policy or Policy over Party?

HRBKOVÁ, Lenka and Veronika DOSTÁLOVÁ. Affective Polarisation in a Multipartism: Party over Policy or Policy over Party? In Affective Polarization Symposium, Maastricht. 2023.

Basic information

• Original name: Affective Polarisation in a Multipartism: Party over Policy or Policy over Party?
• Authors: HRBKOVÁ, Lenka and Veronika DOSTÁLOVÁ.
• Edition: Affective Polarization Symposium, Maastricht, 2023.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50601 Political science
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: affective polarisation, partisanship, issue preferences, mediation, negative partisanship

Abstract

Affective polarisation has become a prominent concept in the study of contemporary politics across diverse party systems. Yet, its sources remain ambiguous, especially in mutipartisms. Drawing from existing literature, we formulate a model outlining the primary drivers of affective polarization in multiparty systems and apply it to the Czech multiparty context. Using the 2021 Czech Election Study data, representative of the Czech voting population (n = 1,270), we explore whether affective polarisation is driven by positive or negative party affective attachments. Concurrently, we examine if ideological (dis)agreement with one's most or least preferred party provides an alternate rationale, sidelining partisan factors as the predominant influencers of affective polarization. We also explore the possibility that one hypothesized driver of affective polarization could exert its influence indirectly through the other. Our results indicate that both partisanship and ideological (dis)agreement may work as forces behind partisan affective polarization. We find little evidence of the indirect effects of partisanship through ideology and vice versa; the direct effects of both partisanship and ideological agreement dominate. Our research enriches the understanding of affective polarization in multiparty systems, delving into vertical affective polarization and offering insights into the relatively unexplored realm of Central and East European politics.

Links

• GA22-33158S, research and development project: Name: Současná podoba a zdroje politického konfliktu a politicky motivovaného rozdělení české společnosti

Investor: Czech Science Foundation