Rubenstein 414 (Democracy Lab) HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Within-Party Discord and Polarization
You’re invited to join Jonathan Rodden, professor of political science at the Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, for his talk, “Within-Party Discord and Polarization.” This is an American Politics Speaker Series talk sponsored by the Center for American Political Studies and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
Registration is encouraged, but not required. Lunch will be served.
Talk abstract:
In the literature on polarization, it is axiomatic that hostility and negative affect between groups is heightened by within-group homogeneity. However, this paper argues the opposite for political parties in democracies: when voters are risk-averse, negative affect toward out-parties should increase with their internal heterogeneity. We use cross-country data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems to demonstrate that voters in countries with more heterogeneous parties exhibit greater levels of affective polarization; and, within countries, voters express greater negative affect toward more heterogeneous out-parties (ideological distance held constant). We then reconsider polarization in the US, arguing that it has sparked intra-party in-fighting which, in turn, has helped fuel negative partisanship.
About the Series
The American Politics Speaker Series (APSS) aims to bring together scholars who are doing research on these and other important questions. Hosted jointly with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and chaired by Professors Maya Sen, Benjamin Schneer, and Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, each session will highlight a scholar whose research is at the forefront of the study of American politics.