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AbstractWhile the economic approach to constitutions highlights their contribution to resolving conflict, recent work on the de jure–de facto distinction in relation to various constitutional rules suggests that political conflict and polarization could play a role in explaining the size and evolution of the gap between constitution text and constitutional practice. In this paper, we are interested in the relationship between the degree of conflict in the political arena within the state, captured by the polarization of the political landscape, as well as the underlying political polarization in society, and compliance of government actors with the country's constitution. Based on a number of theoretical arguments, we provide an empirical investigation for ca. 170 countries in the period 1975–2020, using the new Comparative Constitutional Compliance Database. Our results suggest that constitutional non-compliance is associated with more intense political polarization in society, but it does not seem to be correlated with polarization of the political landscape.

Group‐based redistribution is extensive and embedded in Malaysia, and has comprehensively transformed the country since the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971. The NEP established a "two‐pronged" framework of poverty reduction irrespective of race and social restructuring to redress racial inequalities primarily through preferential programmes targeting the disadvantaged Bumiputera majority. The debate surrounding the NEP has under‐appreciated its strengths and augmented its omissions and misconceptions, which in turn have shaped policy discourses and attitudes in two ways. First, there is marked polarization, largely along ethnic lines, with the majority group overwhelmingly predisposed in favour of Bumiputera policy and minority groups generally wary of its continuation. The polarization unduly reduces the debate to monolithic pro‐NEP vs anti‐NEP dispositions, and constricts the solutions to a false binary question of continuing vs terminating the NEP. Second, a broad but incoherent consensus has consolidated around the notion that "need‐based" policies should comprehensively replace "race‐based" policies. While "need‐based" policies are widely embraced, they emphatically do not constitute a substitute for "race‐based" policies, or group‐based redistribution more generally. Surveys have captured the ethnic polarization surrounding "Malay privileges," but also show that Malaysians unanimously support universal basic assistance. A systematic policy reformulation with universal basic needs and group‐based interventions as enduring and distinct domains might hold out possibilities for new and constructive compromise.

"Partisan Media and Polarization: Challenges for Future Work" published on by Oxford University Press.

Political parties are the major agents of a political process. In the democratic system of governance, political parties are thought to be the inevitable factors. Political parties are said to be as the lubricant oil of democracy, engine of democracy, fuel of democracy, life line of democracy and energy of democracy in the democratic system. Democracy is the political system which is regulated and performed by the political parties. For the well functioning of a democratic system, the political parties should follow perform the democratic values and norms properly. All the parties but mainly the ruling party or parties should be always committed towards the achievement of democratic values. Party may be polarized but they should not be polarized for and against the democratic norms and values. When political get parties polarized going for and against constitutional guidelines then it may be proved disastrous for democracy. Now in Nepal political parties have been polarized making their own alliance during the election time. Left alliance has declared that they will make the unified single communist party for political stability and economic prosperity. Democratic alliance mainly Nepali congress has claimed that left alliance is not for nation but for imposing totalitarianism and authoritarianism in the country. Polarization of political party will bring both the positive and negative impacts in the democratic polity. To make success the democratic system of governance, party may be polarized and unified but they must not to be polarized to make weaken the democracy. The major objectives of this article are to show the major values of democracy, to show the patterns of polarization of political parties and to analyze the impacts of polarization of political parties. To meet these objectives descriptive-analytical methodology of study has been applied. To draw the conclusion, both qualitative and quantitative information have been taken from secondary method.Journal of Political Science, Volume XVIII, 2018, page: 62-81

Political parties are considered as important factors with regard to democratization and legitimacy of a political system. Post-communist ECE countries are characterized by researchers as manifesting weakly organized political parties, high voters' volatility and ideological uncertainty. A number of studies indicate, on the contrary, that post-communist political systems are also featuring a stable institutionalized party system. It is usually argued that a high level of party system institutionalization is a necessary condition or a prerequisite for democratization. This paper aims to investigate the conditions of party polarization in those political systems in which there is a stable and institutionalized party system. Theoretically speaking it is argued that low effective number of parties, low degree of voters' volatility and the stability among dominant parties constitute the main attributes of a highly institutionalized party system. The research question of the paper is: How to explain high party polarization given a relatively low effective number of parties in an institutionalized party system? The paper builds on the case study of Albania, which constitutes a deviant case contrary to the theoretical expectations. Contrary to a number of alternative theoretical explanations on the same issue, such as cultural explanations or those based on long-term causes as the nature of the dictatorial regime, this study present the following hypothesis: A change in the configuration of the social classes and ruling elites after 1992 together with the prevailing of a one dimensional dominant cleavage, opposite to a cross-cutting cleavage, in political competition brings about party polarization. The paper is based on the theoretical framework of Konrád and Szelényi (1979), and Eyal (2003) in order to identify the configuration of the postcommunist ruling elite as well as at the theoretical framework of (Dahl 1966) and (Casal Bèrtoa 2014) concerning the formation of cumulative one dimensional cleavage opposite to the ...

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between legislative civility and legislative productivity in US state legislatures. The research employs data from the National Survey of State Legislative Lobbyists and from the State Policy Innovation and Diffusion (SPID) database. The former dataset is used to generate an overall civility index for each state as developed by Kettler et al. The SPID database allows one to measure the legislative productivity of a state legislature. Employing these data, negative binomial and Poisson regression models reveal that state legislatures rated as more civil by their own lobbyists produced significantly more pieces of noteworthy legislation than those legislative bodies rated as less civil. These results suggest that the quality of internal legislative dynamics matters for legislative productivity.

Building a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the limits of the international rules-based liberal order across a variety of issue areas, this topical book highlights how the discourse and values inherent in these long-established political arrangements are now facing a backlash. Leading scholars examine how, with a greater dispersion of power and heterogeneity of preferences, Europe navigates a system characterized by a growing deadlock in major international institutions and a lack of compliance with international rules on global governance. Chapters analyse the challenges within international organizations and the international order itself, where the global balance of power is shifting towards a multipolar system. Challenges explored include populist-nationalist movements; rising geopolitical tensions; and growing inequality, political polarization and diminishing trust in political institutions. With the pull of global competition and rising power politics, the book identifies the limits to multilateral cooperation and the shortfalls of the traditional state-based liberal order in addressing global problems, finding a need for more diversity in governance structures to deal with increased connectivity and interdependence.

Widening, asymmetric polarization is evident in both the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Recent work unveils a new dimension to this polarization story: newly elected Republican women are driving this polarization. Women are more likely to legislate on women's issues than men, yet women's shared interest in representing women doesn't preclude their identity as partisans. In this article, we explore the effect of today's political climate on state legislators' policy representation of women's issues. We ask what effect does gendered polarization have on women's issues? To test this, we evaluate bill sponsorship in the states on the quintessential "women's issue" of abortion. Our research design focuses on bill introductions and uses on an original dataset of pro- and anti-abortion rights bill introductions, which we analyze using an event count model. We find that overall polarization leads to the introduction of fewer restrictive abortion bills, but as polarization between women lawmakers grows, legislators are more likely to introduce anti-abortion rights legislation. Gender polarization has consequences on the types of bills legislators introduce and for how scholars should study polarization.

We report the results of a laboratory experiment based on a citizen–candidate model with private information about ideal points. Inefficient political polarization is observed in all treatments; that is, citizens with extreme ideal points enter as candidates more often than moderate citizens. Second, less entry occurs, with even greater polarization, when voters have directional information about candidates' ideal points, using ideological party labels. Nonetheless, this directional information is welfare enhancing because the inefficiency from greater polarization is outweighed by lower entry expenses and better voter information. Third, entry rates are decreasing in group size and the entry cost. These findings are all implied by properties of the unique symmetric Bayesian equilibrium cutpoint pair of the entry game. Quantitatively, we observe too little (too much) entry when the theoretical entry rates are high (low). This general pattern of observed biases in entry rates is implied by logit quantal response equilibrium.

This study examines the level of politicization and polarization in COVID-19 news in U.S. newspapers and televised network news from March to May 2020. Using multiple computer-assisted content analytic approaches, we find that newspaper coverage is highly politicized, network news coverage somewhat less so, and both newspaper and network news coverage are highly polarized. We find that politicians appear in newspaper coverage more frequently than scientists, whereas politicians and scientists are more equally featured in network news. We suggest that the high degree of politicization and polarization in initial COVID-19 coverage may have contributed to polarization in U.S. COVID-19 attitudes.

Draws on data from the General Household Survey (GHS) on household incomes in GB & London between 1979 & 1993 to examine the existence of social polarization & inequality. It is noted that polarization in America is usually defined as shrinkage of the middle classes & growth at both the top & bottom of the occupational & earnings spectrum. Conversely, polarization in GB emphasizes a growing divide between a "comfortable middle mass of households with two or more earners & a residualized group with no earners." Analysis of GHS data at the household income level showed little evidence for the American model of polarization in GB but revealed a significant increase in income inequality between 1979-1993 in GB as a whole, & even more so in London, with most of the transfer occurring from the middle to the top end of the household income distribution. Dual income professional/managerial households were shown to be the most affluent. The negative effect of gender & ethnicity on differences in the median household income is discussed. 19 Tables. J. Lindroth