Ideological and affective polarization in multiparty systems

2023/08/11 by Arndt Leininger, Felix Grünewald, Nelly Buntfuß · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Social Media and Politics

paper · pdf · doi:10.31235/osf.io/mz6rs

openalex publication_date 2023/08/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Inspired by increasingly partisan politics in the US, a burgeoning literature on affective polarization applies the concept to multiparty systems. While there are many literature reviews on polarization in the US, as of yet there exists no comparable stocktaking of comparative research on polarization in multiparty systems. This review article fills this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of relevant concepts and operationalizations of ideological and affective polarization in multiparty systems and by summarizing comparative research on the causes and consequences of polarization in these systems. The review also makes an empirical contribution by creating and analyzing cross-national data on polarization to scope the relationship between ideological and affective polarization across several measures. We present the data and measures online in an accompanying Encyclopedia of Polarization.

Citations

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Discussions

• Lastly, our encyclopedia is part of a larger project on polarization and direct democracy. In its course, we have also written a review paper on political polarization in multiparty systems. You can n [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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