A NEW MEASURE FOR PARTY COHERENCE: APPLYING A PHYSICS-BASED CONCEPT TO THE SWISS PARTY SYSTEM

Markus Christen (), Thomas Ott () and Daniel Schwarz ()
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Markus Christen: Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Pestalozzistrasse 24, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland
Thomas Ott: Institute of Applied Simulation, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Einsiedlerstrasse 31a, CH-8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland
Daniel Schwarz: Department of Methodology, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2013, vol. 16, issue 06, 1-27

Abstract: The paper revives a theoretical definition of party coherence as being composed of two basic elements, cohesion and factionalism, to propose and apply a novel empirical measure based on spin physics. The simultaneous analysis of both components using a single measurement concept is applied to data representing the political beliefs of candidates in the Swiss general elections of 2003 and 2007, proposing a connection between the coherence of the beliefs party members hold and the assessment of parties being at risk of splitting. We also compare our measure with established polarization measures and demonstrate its advantage with respect to multi-dimensional data that lack clear structure. Furthermore, we outline how our analysis supports the distinction between bottom-up and top-down mechanisms of party splitting. In this way, we are able to turn the intuition of coherence into a defined quantitative concept that, additionally, offers a methodological basis for comparative research of party coherence. Our work serves as an example of how a complex systems approach allows to get a new perspective on a long-standing issue in political science.

Keywords: Measurement methods; party coherence; polarization; political science; superparamagnetic clustering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525913500112

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