polarization Archives

Arto Kekkonen & Tuomas Ylä-Anttila

Affective blocs: Understanding affective polarization in multiparty systems

Published 7.10.2021

Research has suggested that affective polarization (AP)—the extent to which partisans view each other as a disliked out-group—has increased, especially in two-party political systems such as in the US. The understanding of AP in multiparty systems remains limited. We study AP in Finland, characterized by a strong multiparty system and a low level of ideological polarization, between 2007 and 2019. We find that AP has increased, driven mainly by voters evaluating their least favorite party more negatively. We also propose an approach that goes beyond earlier literature, which has mostly used a single aggregate metric to measure AP. Using latent profile analysis, we find that voters are grouped into blocs that view some parties positively and others negatively. This suggests that the complex dynamics of AP in multiparty democracies involve relationships between not just individual parties but between what we call affective blocs that span across party lines.

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Paolo Fornaro

Politician polarization in Finland over recent years

Julkaistu 12.1.2021

We study politicians’ ideological polarization, and its possible absence, in Finland. To measure ideological positions, we look at the responses of candidates to the voting advice applications for the parliamentary elections of 2011, 2015 and 2019, which provide an almost full coverage of the candidates. Moreover, we look at the relationship between local income polarization, at the municipal level, and the degree of polarization of the candidates coming from a given municipality. We find that there has not been a significant increase in ideological polarization over time, both between and within party, and that the degree to which candidates’ positions differ depend strongly on the dimension considered. On the other hand, we find a significant positive relationship between local income polarization and the tendency of candidates to hold relatively extreme positions, indicating that growing income inequalities between different areas in Finland might lead to more polarized candidates’ ideologies.

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