 Does Affective Polarization Contribute to Democratic Backsliding in America?James N. Druckman, Donald P. Green and Shanto Iyengar The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2023, vol. 708, issue 1, 137-163 Abstract: A notable development in 21st-century American politics is the rise of affective polarization: partisans increasingly dislike and distrust those affiliated with the other political party. We offer a wide-ranging review of the nature of party identification; the factors that contribute to affective polarization; and the consequences of this kind of polarization on electoral politics, democratic transgressions, and democratic functioning. We conclude that there is scant evidence of a direct link between affective polarization and democratic backsliding in the U.S., and we argue that understanding the erosion of democratic norms and institutions means that we should consider a wider range of potential causal factors among elites and the general citizenry. Affective polarization has likely made democratic functioning more difficult, though, so interventions to address it are worthwhile: these should focus on core causes rather than on behavioral symptoms. Keywords: affective polarization; partisan animosity; democratic backsliding; democratic erosion; behavioral interventions; institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:708:y:2023:i:1:p:137-163 DOI: 10.1177/00027162241228952 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |
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