Ideological Heterogeneity Research Articles

Representation and Legislative Roles in Congress: Evidence from the 1950s

Classic and contemporary research assumes legislators subjectively adopt a role orientation. This role indicates the degree to which they attempt to provide delegate representation for their constituents with the policies they support. Existing research, however, is divided on the causes that influence the choice between a relatively delegate or trustee role. I hypothesize that district heterogeneity affects this choice. Using data from the American Representation Study in the 1950s, I assess how a U.S. representative’s selection of a delegate or trustee role is affected by district heterogeneity. The findings indicate that greater ideological heterogeneity generally increases the likelihood of delegate representation, depending on a legislator’s electoral marginality. Greater partisan heterogeneity usually decreases the likelihood of delegate representation, except among electorally marginal legislators. I also find that marginality, seniority, and party affect legislators’ role choices, providing evidence that in some ways Congress has remained the same over time.

How ballot access laws increase primary competition and decrease party unity

How do electoral institutions affect primary competition and legislative behavior? This paper examines the understudied electoral rule known as ballot access laws, advancing the novel theory that denying ballot access to minor candidates forces these outsiders into major parties. I find that in American states that adopt high ballot access thresholds experience higher rates of ideological heterogeneity and primary competition, and those that reduce their thresholds experience a reduction in heterogeneity and competition. Using an original dataset on state-level changes to ballot access thresholds from 1990 to 2018, I find that an increase in the number and type of primary competition leads to an increase in heterogeneity within both party caucuses. This paper adds to the literature on legislative behavior and electoral institutions, demonstrating institutions role in shaping electoral competition and the ideology of those represented in office.

Историческая политика и мемориальная культура современного румынского общества

The aim of the research is to analyze the contemporary politics of memory in Romania in the early 2020s. The author examines the role and place of intellectual communities as key spaces of memory genesis and the functioning of memorial culture and collective historical memory in the contemporary social and political thought of Romania. The novelty of the study lies in exploring the current stage in the development of the historical politics of Roma­nian society in the context of an objective deficit of interdisciplinary research focused on the analysis of memorial cultures. The article demonstrates that: 1) the intellectual community, as one of the systemic segments of modern Romanian society, significantly contributes to the development and transformation of memorial culture; 2) the spectrum of memorial practices of Romanian intellectuals, as agents of historical memory politics and shapers of various ver­sions of memorial culture, varies from historical revisionism to attempts to form a liberal me­morial canon; 3) the memorial practices of the contemporary intellectual community are in­terconnected with the development of civil and ethnic nationalist discourse; 4) the participa­tion of intellectuals in memory politics actualizes the political and ideological heterogeneity of modern society, contributing to the simultaneous coexistence and competition of different forms of historical memory. It is assumed that the role of Romanian civil society in the histor­ical politics of contemporary Romania will increase, and the intellectual community will re­main one of the active participants in the politics of collective memory.

ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПОЛИТИКА И МЕМОРИАЛЬНАЯ КУЛЬТУРА СОВРЕМЕННОГО ВЕНГЕРСКОГО ОБЩЕСТВА

This study analyzes the current memory policy in modern-day Hungary during the early 2020s. The author studies the role and place of intellectual communities as the main spaces of the genesis of memory and the functioning of memorial cultures and collective historical memory in modern social and political thought of Hungary. The article demonstrates that the intellectual community, as a systemic component of contemporary Hungarian society, plays a vital role in developing and transforming memorial culture. Additionally, Hungarian intellectual agents of historical memory politics and shapers of various memorial cultures engage in a spectrum of memorial practices that range from historical revisionism to attempts to create a liberal memorial canon. Thirdly, the memorial practices of the modern intellectual community are linked to the development of nationalist discourse, represented by ethnic and civic nationalisms. Besides, the participation of intellectuals in memorial politics actualizes the political and ideological heterogeneity of modern Hungarian society, contributing to the simultaneous development and competition of various forms of historical memories, stimulating memorial confrontations and memory wars. It is assumed that the role of society in the historical politics of modern Hungary will increase, and intellectuals as memory activists will remain among the main active participants of memorial politics.

Argentine-Brazilian contradictions as a factor of disintegration in South America

At the beginning of the 21st century, international relations in South America are developing in a paradigm of regionalization, manifested in emergence of multiple social associations on the continent, linked to each other not only geographically but also functionally. In parallel, trends of fragmentation and polarization, resulting from the crisis of Latin American multilateralism and from political heterogeneity established by the results of the next electoral period, are directly or indirectly influencing the nature of regional relations. In this context, and given their impact on regional affairs, the analysis of the current state of relations between Argentina and Brazil, characterized by polarized positions on a range of issues, deserves particular attention. The author chose a systemic approach to the analysis of international relations and the current foreign policy situation as the main methodological tool to achieve the goal of research. This, in turn, allowed the author of this article to consider South America as a regional subsystem, within which political systems and regimes compete, including for the choice of the vector of sub-regional development. The article demonstrates that recently the Argentine-Brazilian contradictions have fueled and strengthened political and ideological heterogeneity of the whole South American continent. In addition, the author cites different visions of formats and vectors of integration development of associations and subregional organizations in South America. According to the author, the actions of the governments of Alberto Fernández and Jair Bolsonaro make it quite difficult to implement and put in practice the necessary measures and formulated strategic goals, as well as to determine the vector of future development for Latin American states.

복지정책 NPF 분석

COVID-19 pandemic maximized chronic social risks such as high unemployment and income polarization. Accordingly, discussions on welfare reform related to the expansion of the universal welfare were increased. This study analyzed the debate between progressive party supporting basic income and conservative party claiming the expansion of existing policy using a Narrative Policy Framework. Especially, the plot and strategy are focused to explain the causal composition of narrative. Three TV debates, in which the basic income discussion was introduced, were analyzed. The result of analysis shows, first, the setting of both parties converges to ‘expansion of the universal welfare’. Second, ideological heterogeneity stands out, because both parties as heroes set the victims in solidarity with them based on untraditional political support. Finally, it suggests the possibility that ideological heterogeneity could be replaced by reorganized benefits by each party.

Chinese Centrist Liberal Critics of Trump: A Reconsideration of Contemporary Chinese Liberalism

This article challenges the existing scholarship’s characterisation of Chinese liberal intellectuals as Trumpian intellectuals. By conducting a close reading of Chinese academic publications, lectures and opinions aired on social media, this article finds that besides Trump’s Chinese liberal fans, many leading Chinese liberal intellectuals harshly criticised Trump. However, they do not align themselves with American liberals in making all-out partisan criticisms of Trump and American right-wing politics. Instead, their criticisms are mostly centrist. This article argues that Chinese liberal intellectuals’ centrist criticisms of Trump reflect their Confucian, egalitarian and moderate nationalist sympathies, dimensions of their thoughts which have been ignored by existing scholarship regarding them. By exploring Chinese centrist liberal critics of Trump, this article brings to light the ideological heterogeneity within the Chinese liberal camp previously lumped together under the umbrella of “anti-authoritarianism.”

The influence of civic associations and exposure to ideological heterogeneity on public views on mask wearing and social distancing

Mask wearing and social distancing have been essential public health guidelines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but faced resistance from skeptical subgroups in the United States, including Republicans and evangelicals. We examined the effects of participation in ideologically heterogeneous civic associations on attitudes toward public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among partisan and religious subgroups most resistant to public health guidelines. We analyzed panel survey data from a nationally representative cohort of 1222 U.S. adults collected in April, July, and November 2020, and July/August 2021. Data on the importance of social distancing and mask wearing were collected in November 2020. Evangelicals and Republicans who participated in ideologically diverse civic associations were more likely to support mask wearing compared to those participating in ideologically homogenous associations (difference in predicted policy support on a 0–1 scale: 0.084, p ≤ .05 and 0.020, p ≤ .05, respectively). Evangelicals in ideologically diverse associations were also more likely to support social distancing compared to those in ideologically homogenous associations (0.089, p ≤ .05). Participation in civic associations with ideologically heterogeneous members was associated with greater support for public health measures among skeptical subgroups. Encouraging exposure to diverse ideologies may bolster support for public health measures to mitigate COVID-19.

Coalition Mood in European Parliamentary Democracies

AbstractThe success and longevity of coalition governments depends on the ability to keep conflicts between coalition members at bay. The risk of such conflicts is often assessed by drawing on proxy measures, such as the ideological heterogeneity among government parties. This article presents a new approach to measuring the atmosphere between government parties. The ‘coalition mood’ is a time-varying measure that draws on applause patterns between coalition partners during legislative debates. The article exemplifies the measurement approach based on automated analyses of over 105,000 plenary debates in Germany and Austria. The article then assesses the measure's face, concurrent and predictive validity. It finds the measure well aligned with qualitative evidence, shows that the coalition mood is correlated with poll ratings of the government parties and helps to predict the duration of legislative processes. The conclusion highlights future applications of the coalition mood for research on coalition politics and public policy.

Does Union Canvassing Affect Voter Turnout Under Conditions of Political Constraint? Empirical Evidence from Illinois

The positive effects of union canvassing on individual-level union member voter turnout within union-friendly environments have been well documented. Yet, whether unions increase turnout among their membership under constrained circumstances has remained unexamined. Furthermore, there is little consensus on whether union canvassing effects are generalizable to populations with heterogeneous political attributes and individual characteristics. This paper identifies the mechanisms that might explain how union canvassing can be effective under conditions characterized by anti-union legislative actions, adversarial judicial decisions, and right-wing populist rhetoric. We use canvassing and turnout data taken from the 2016 Democratic state and Cook County primary election in Illinois, and our results show that, despite constrained political circumstances relative to those found in previous studies, union canvassing achieved positive union membership turnout effects. This study also tests the moderating effects of individual political attributes (ideology and vote propensity) and voter characteristics (income and ethnicity). The most salient finding is that the effects are more potent for ideologically conservative registered Democrat voters, highlighting the imperative of recognizing the ideological heterogeneity among union members and suggesting specific resource allocation strategies under politically constrained conditions.

The post-colonial novel and the re-construction of national identity in Morocco: conflicts and paradoxes

ABSTRACT Tainted by decades of direct colonial influence, Moroccan cultural identity in the postcolonial era became the battleground for conflicting discourses and competing voices grappling for recognition and dominance. The project of cultural decolonisation and national identity construction was avidly endorsed by Moroccan nationalist authors whose ‘engaged’ literature aimed at resurrecting Moroccanness on solid Islamic and nationalist foundations. Modernist writers, however, espoused a different vision that is based on modernisation, liberalism and secularism. Some other writers wrote ‘undesirable’ literature that is highly individualistic and unconcerned with the question of identity. The cultural scene in general and the novel genre in particular, being a new and a widely receptive genre, vehicled these postcolonial conflicting discourses and ideologies and reflected the discursive and ideological heterogeneity of postcolonial Morocco. This article sheds light on this heterogeneity as manifested in the works of prominent Moroccan post-colonial novelists. I, therefore, contend that there were several literatures at play subsequent to Morocco’s political independence; one is progressive, another reactionary, and the other is ahistorical; all representing the three major currents of post-colonial Moroccan literature.

Policy drift in ideologically heterogeneous governments: tax policy in Latin America

Abstract The relation between taxation and partisanship is a widely studied topic in Political Science. However, previous works have provided conflicting findings without clarifying which parties are most prone to progressive taxation. These studies also did not consider one distinctive feature of Latin American politics: coalition governments. Using the level of direct tax collection as a proxy for progressive taxation and panel data of Latin American countries since 1990, we investigate how progressive taxes vary across a scale of ideology observed in the executive branch along with the ideological heterogeneity of its coalition. The results show that ideologically heterogeneous governments present a policy drift, as the policies being enacted depart from parties’ original preferences. Homogeneous left-wing governments collect more direct taxes than ideologically heterogeneous coalitions led by governments with the same ideology. The same dynamic is observed with homogeneous right-wing governments, which collect more indirect taxes in ideologically homogeneous coalitions. These results create new paths of research highlighting the need to include the government’s composition in the analysis to understand policy design and the need to unravel the mechanism through which policy drift occurs in ideologically heterogeneous governments.

What explains party unity? A test of competing theories

Several theories have been created to explain party unity in Congress, but previous studies have generally assumed the same factors affect party unity for both parties. Given the differences between the two parties (the ideological heterogeneity of their electoral coalitions, how the party’s electoral coalitions view partisanship, etc.), this assumption may limit our understanding of the sources of party unity. In this paper, I test three theories of party unity (cartel theory, Conditional Party Government, and Strategic Party Government) on separate panels for the two parties. I find cartel theory helps explain party unity for both parties, but, unlike what has previously been argued, I find this is not entirely due to Reed’s Rules. I further find Conditional Party Government better explains party unity for the Republicans, while Strategic Party Government better explains party unity for the Democrats. I provide theoretical reasons for these findings and how they may impact future research.

Осмислення мультикультуралізму східноєвропейського простору у фольклорно- етнографічних працях Володимира Гнатюка про угорських русинів

According to the research, Academician Volodymyr Hnatiuk's scholarly inquiry had focused on the elements of multiculturalism long before the theory of multiculturalism was developed. Hnatiuk studied the problems of coexistence of different ethnic groups in the multicultural realm of the Eastern European area, with a partucLuar attention to the Ugrian Rusins. In his research, Hnatiuk employed basic concepts for modern multicultural studies, such as historically determined multicultural space of Eastern Europe, which combines national and ideological heterogeneity, cultural diffusion and social homogeneity. Yet the authors emphasize that Hnatiuk paid attention to the dominant concepts of ethnocultural frontiers, the contamination of ethnological and psychomental phenomena, the problems of preservation/Loss of the national identity, the political consensus in a poLyethnic society, the polyphony of national consciousness, and others. The multilevel reception of other ethnic groups by the Rusins is studied on the Materials from Ugric Rus (1897-1911) collected and processed by Hnatiuk. The primary role in this cultural topos is assigned to the Slavic nations, who are more often perceived in the plane of rapprochement rather than distance in the dichotomy of In-group/Out-group. The second level is interaction with non-Slavic European nations (Germans, Hungarians). However, the non-European influences were often a factor in the formation of Eastern European identity: the Jewish influence through the biblical books, as well as Central Asian influences from the Turkish attacks and the Ottoman rule in these lands. The authors conclude that the muLticuLturaList methodology expands the geocuLturaL context of ethnological research. The processed material convincingly proves that it can be applied to the European cultural and historical discourses of previous epochs, which contain the features provided by this theory.

Read it on Reddit: Homogeneity and Ideological Segregation in the Age of Social News

This article empirically revisits the idea of ideological segregation and homogeneity in social networks with an exhaustive analysis of the website Reddit.com . Using a computer-assisted analysis on a corpus of multiple billion comments, it studies the relation between the tone of comments and three political topics, immigration, macroeconomics and defense. Looking at the standard deviation of the average tone of users and communities over time on these specific topics, results show an overall trend toward more ideological heterogeneity as a product of new users’ influx, while multiple communities studied and long-term users show a trend toward homogeneity. Results also show that digital heuristics, such as upvotes and downvotes, illustrate a far greater diversity of opinion than a study solely on published comments could let on.

Keeping channels open or screening out? The digital practices of Baltic Russian-speakers during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

ABSTRACT Inspired by Couldry’s conceptualisation of media-related practices, the authors investigate the ways Baltic Russian-speakers manage their digital information-seeking (sources of news) practices and interaction (communication partners). Amidst the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the ensuing tensions between Russia and the West, we consider how these digital practices lead to ideological heterogeneity or homogeneity. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has put the transnational affiliations and practices of Baltic Russophones under pressure. This paper therefore asks how the polarised political environment and securitisation of the cross-border media practices of Baltic Russian-speakers by the national political elite has shaped how individuals respond by keeping channels open or screening content out. Based on a mixed-method study of the digital practices of Russian-speakers living in Estonia and Latvia, the authors argue that practices supporting digital homophily and digital heterophily are not mutually exclusive but appear in specific configurations. The avoidance of counter-oppositional views (screening out) is not absolute but rather mixed with practices that open channels from time to time.

The greening of European radical left parties: red and green politics

ABSTRACT This article explores how European radical left parties (RLPs) respond to environmental issues and the extent to which green politics has been included in their programs and strategies. It shows that RLPs often have a greener policy profile than social democratic parties or right-wing parties. But compared with green parties, the members of the radical left party family are shown to be more moderate on environmental issues. The ‘Red-Green’ agenda adopted by RLPs is found to be characterized by social justice concerns. The article provides a comparative analysis which highlights considerable variation in the environmental policies of RLPs. The analysis shows that while most RLPs have modified their positions towards environmentalism, several variables, and in particular, the ideological heterogeneity found on the radical left can explain differences in their commitment to ecology. We also show that the willingness and capacity of RLPs to absorb such new issues have been shaped by party competition, environmental salience, and their organisational goals.

Crisis neoliberal y cambio de régimen en México:

En este trabajo se argumenta que Morena y sus antecedentes, han sido un factor importante en la lucha por la democracia en México además de su oposición a la política económica neoliberal. La transición democrática mexicana ha sido fallida y esto es debido a los atavismos autoritarios del régimen emanado de la revolución mexicana combinados con una acumulación neoliberal cada vez más incompatible con la democracia liberal y representativa. Por ello, Morena representa hoy una fuerza política que busca hacer realidad esta democracia y al mismo tiempo profundizarla con la democracia participativa. Sin embargo, en Morena coexiste al lado de una voluntad democrática real, una heterogeneidad ideológica que presenta atavismos centralistas y verticales y el peso del liderazgo personal de Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

State Coalitions, Informational Signals, and Success as Amicus Curiae at the U.S. Supreme Court

AbstractStates are uniquely situated as both individual governments in the federal system and entities that represent the interests of their citizens. So, what makes groups of states successful when they lobby the Supreme Court as amicus curiae filers? I argue that it is not just the number of states included in a coalition that matters, but rather which states are included. In this article, I offer a theory that implies certain types of coalitions will be more influential than others, as these coalitions can vary in how representative they are of public preferences. I use a dataset on state amicus curiae filings from 1960 to 2013 to test the implications of my theory. I find that the regional diversity of coalitions increases the odds of state amicus curiae filers obtaining their preferred outcome, but the ideological heterogeneity of the group of states does not. This latter result is interesting given that it is contrary to the theoretical expectations of the existing scholarship on state amicus filings.

How Valuable Is a Presidential Cabinet? Measuring Ministries’ Political Attractiveness in Brazil

ABSTRACTHow valuable is a cabinet position? While the current literature does not ignore the reality that ministries differ from one another, it does not offer either theoretical or methodological procedures to assess such differences. This article introduces a refined measure of coalescence degree that considers several characteristics ministries may have, as well as politicians’ preferences about cabinet appointments. We estimate the effect of this alternative measure of coalescence on the president’s legislative success using large Brazilian datasets from 1995 to 2014 and an elite survey conducted with 62 Brazilian legislators. Controlling for other coalition management variables (coalition size and ideological heterogeneity), our refined coalescence metric turns out to be a more appropriate tool to assess the president’s performance in Congress.