Party competition and affective polarization
This chapter examines the relationship between affective polarization and party competition, focusing on dynamic and structural elements. Party competition has a dynamic nature, with moments of heightened confrontation during campaigns when affective polarization increases, and moments of power shar...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | capítulo de libro |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:uabarcelona_::10832df47b04e7fb6c9e38f46a43abcc |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/327070 https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.4337/9781035310609.00030 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Affective Polarization Coalitions Dimensionality Electoral Systems Ideological Polarization Party Competition SDG 13 - Climate Action |
| Sumario: | This chapter examines the relationship between affective polarization and party competition, focusing on dynamic and structural elements. Party competition has a dynamic nature, with moments of heightened confrontation during campaigns when affective polarization increases, and moments of power sharing and inter-party cooperation, when affective polarization decreases. The climate of elite interactions matters for citizens' levels of affective polarization. While it is reasonable to expect that coalition formation goes hand in hand with depolarization between supporters of coalition partners, it is more surprising that the positive effects of the formation of coalitions spill over to other parties and seem to persist over time. Party competition and cooperation are in turn conditioned by institutional arrangements and particularly by the electoral system, which affects party system characteristics and affective polarization. Recent works have suggested that majoritarian systems may be more vulnerable to dynamics that foster extreme and concerning levels of affective polarization. Finally, the dimensions of political competition are a third important element in the picture. Much existing work on affective polarization has focused on the left-right dimension, not only because of its ability to subsume different lines of conflict but also for data availability reasons. However, recent work has introduced a more nuanced picture by jointly considering different dimensions of party competition, particularly relevant in contexts outside WEIRD countries. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for future research, which refer particularly to the conditions and mechanisms behind the effects of these dynamic and structural aspects of party competition on affective polarization. |
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