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Institutional design and polarization : do consensus democracies fare better in fighting polarization than majoritarian democracies?
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Bernaerts, Kamil, Blanckaert, Benjamin and Caluwaerts, Didier (2023) Institutional design and polarization : do consensus democracies fare better in fighting polarization than majoritarian democracies? Democratization, 30 (2). pp. 153-172. doi:10.1080/13510347.2022.2117300 ISSN 1351-0347.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2022.2117300
Abstract
It is often claimed that we are living in an age of increasing polarization. Political views, opinions, and worldviews become increasingly irreconcilable (idea-based polarization), while at the same time society appears to be getting fractured in antagonistic, opposing camps (identity-based polarization). However, a closer look at international datasets reveals that these forms of polarization do not affect all democracies to the same extent. Levels of identity-based and idea-based polarization strongly vary across countries. The question then becomes what can explain these diverging levels of polarization. In this paper, we hypothesize that the institutional design of a country impacts polarization, and that consensus democracies would display lower levels of polarization. Based on a quantitative analysis of the Comparative Political Dataset and Varieties of Democracy data in 36 countries over time (2000–2019), our results show that institutions did matter to a great extent, and in the hypothesized direction. Countries with consensus institutions, and more in particular PR electoral systems, multiparty coalitions, and federalism did exhibit lower levels of both issue-based and identity-based polarization, thereby confirming our expectations. Moreover, we found that consensus democracies tend to be better at coping with identity-based polarization, while the effect on idea-based polarization is smaller.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | |||||||||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Polarization (Social sciences) , Comparative government, Democracy | |||||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Democratization | |||||||||||||||
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis | |||||||||||||||
ISSN: | 1351-0347 | |||||||||||||||
Official Date: | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 30 | |||||||||||||||
Number: | 2 | |||||||||||||||
Number of Pages: | 20 | |||||||||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 153-172 | |||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/13510347.2022.2117300 | |||||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 3 October 2022 | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 3 October 2022 | |||||||||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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