Partisan Contexts Research Articles

Voting out autocrats: evidence from Zambia

ABSTRACT The world is currently undergoing a period of autocratization, often led by democratically elected presidents who begin to dismantle democratic institutions. In countries with reasonably free and fair elections, the electorate’s ability to vote out the autocratizing incumbent is an important democratic safeguard. Does autocratization matter to the voting public? How do citizens weigh concerns about democratic decline alongside partisan attachments and performance evaluations? This study examines Zambia’s 2021 election, in which citizens voted out an autocratizing incumbent. I use a multimethod approach to illuminate what motivated voters, including analysis of constituency-level election data, qualitative analysis of open-ended responses in an original 300-person survey, and regression analysis of the nationally representative Afrobarometer data. The results indicate that while partisanship and negative evaluations of the incumbent’s economic management were important for voters, so were concerns about the decline of democracy. Voter motivations differed across constituency-level partisan context. Key voters in competitive constituencies were motivated by both economic woes and concerns of democratic decline, while voters in incumbent strongholds defected to the opposition primarily for economic reasons. The study has important implications for understanding voter motivations across partisan contexts under autocratization.

The social media discourse of engaged partisans is toxic even when politics are irrelevant.

Prevailing theories of partisan incivility on social media suggest that it derives from disagreement about political issues or from status competition between groups. This study-which analyzes the commenting behavior of Reddit users across diverse cultural contexts (subreddits)-tests the alternative hypothesis that such incivility derives in large part from a selection effect: Toxic people are especially likely to opt into discourse in partisan contexts. First, we examined commenting behavior across over 9,000 unique cultural contexts (subreddits) and confirmed that discourse is indeed more toxic in partisan (e.g. r/progressive, r/conservatives) than in nonpartisan contexts (e.g. r/movies, r/programming). Next, we analyzed hundreds of millions of comments from over 6.3 million users and found robust evidence that: (i) the discourse of people whose behavior is especially toxic in partisan contexts is also especially toxic in nonpartisan contexts (i.e. people are not politics-only toxicity specialists); and (ii) when considering only nonpartisan contexts, the discourse of people who also comment in partisan contexts is more toxic than the discourse of people who do not. These effects were not driven by socialization processes whereby people overgeneralized toxic behavioral norms they had learned in partisan contexts. In contrast to speculation about the need for partisans to engage beyond their echo chambers, toxicity in nonpartisan contexts was higher among people who also comment in both left-wing and right-wing contexts (bilaterally engaged users) than among people who also comment in only left-wing or right-wing contexts (unilaterally engaged users). The discussion considers implications for democratic functioning and theories of polarization.

Contexts and Constraints: The Substantive Representation of Women in the Canadian House of Commons and Senate

ABSTRACT This paper explores the way in which institutional context shapes legislators’ ability to represent women’s interests. In recent decades, scholars have turned their attention to the process of representation in parliament, and we develop a novel theoretical framework that accounts for patterns of representational behaviour. Through an examination of the different institutional contexts of the two houses of the Canadian parliament, we argue that unelected, less partisan contexts give legislators more opportunities to act for women’s interests than elected, partisan contexts where legislators must respond to the demands of their parties and their constituents in order to maintain power. To illustrate our theory, we examine two instances of legislative policymaking on women’s equality issues. Our illustrations justify further investigation of unelected legislators as critical actors in the substantive representation of women in institutions around the world.

Pro-Life and Feminist Mobilization in the Struggle over Abortion in Mexico: Church Networks, Elite Alliances, and Partisan Context

ABSTRACTThis article comparatively analyzes the strategies and political impact of “pro-life” and feminist movements in the struggle over abortion policy in Mexico. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, it argues that anti-abortion movements are more likely to influence policymaking in contexts where they can tap into hegemonic religious institutions’ networks and alliances and indirectly provide incumbents with legitimizing moral and financial support in exchange for restrictive reforms. Partisan contexts shape incumbents’ need for such support. Feminist activists, by contrast, have neither elite connections nor access to similar mobilization resources. To make this argument, the analysis examines pro-life and feminist movements in two Mexican states: Yucatán, where Congress passed a restrictive reform; and Hidalgo, where an identical initiative failed.

Whistleblowing Channels and Internal Investigations in Electoral and Partisan Contexts: Parameters and Guidelines for Ensuring Integrity and Compliance

How to structure an effective whistleblowing channel within an electoral and partisan context? How to proceed with internal investigations to verify the reported allegations? The objectives of this study are twofold: firstly, to establish reliable parameters for the structuring of a whistleblowing channel, and secondly, to develop procedures for internal investigations within political parties and electoral campaigns. The research techniques employed will involve consulting doctrinal sources of national and international relevance, as well as analyzing the Bill no. 429 of 2017. The research method to be used will be hypothetical-deductive, as it will address dogmatic concepts and guidelines established by the Bill. In light of numerous corruption and money laundering scandals, there is an increased social demand for clean and transparent electoral campaigns and better-prepared and structured political parties to address the risks of irregularities within the party and electoral context. With the Bill no. 429/2017 under consideration, the need for integrity programs in these areas will become mandatory. In order for such changes to be effective, it is essential to establish secure parameters and guidelines for whistleblowing channels and internal investigations, as these are the pillars that best facilitate the identification of integrity issues and legal and political malfeasance. Whistleblowing channels are characterized as both internal and external means of communication that aim to establish an anonymous and secure environment for reporting potential violations of the integrity program. Internal investigations, on the other hand, are procedures that aim to prevent and detect inappropriate conduct within the program, with the goal of immediate purging within the organization. Thus, we can conclude that whistleblowing channels primarily emphasize the elements of whistleblower anonymity and information confidentiality, serving as an effective means to report legal and statutory infractions and maintain order and integrity within the party structure and campaign organization. Internal investigations, in turn, serve as tools to verify the veracity of allegations and apply appropriate sanctions to ensure compliance with the integrity program within the party and electoral process. In this context, it is necessary to analyze how these pillars will be applied in the electoral routine and party structure, considering the different proportions and impacts of Brazilian politics.

Family Ties? The Limits of Fathering Daughters on Congressional Behavior

Scholars have long suggested that familial life can affect political behavior and, more recently, have found that fathering daughters leads men to adopt more liberal positions on gender equality policies. However, few have focused on the impact of fathering a daughter on congressional behavior, particularly in an era of heightened partisan polarization. Using an original data set of familial information, we examine whether fathering a daughter influences male legislators’ (a) roll call and cosponsorship support for women’s issues in the 110th to 114th Congresses and (b) cosponsorship of bills introduced by female legislators in the 110th Congress. We find that once party affiliation is taken into account, having a daughter neither predicts support for women’s issues nor cosponsorship of bills sponsored by women. Our findings suggest there are limits to the direct effects of parenting daughters on men’s political behavior, and that scholars should remain attentive to institutional and partisan contexts.

National liberalisms in a neoliberal age: ideas and economic adjustment in contemporary France and Germany

In contrast to prevailing claims of neoliberal hegemony, this article argues that French and German trajectories of adjustment have diverged from standard neoliberal recipes in important ways. France has accompanied liberalization with macroeconomically oriented measures designed to bolster aggregate demand, while Germany has imposed the burden of reform on outsiders while shielding insiders from the costs of adjustment. This article argues that differences in French and German policy trajectories are informed by distinctive national liberalisms—‘statist liberalism’ in the French case and ‘corporate liberalism’ in Germany—that entail divergent models of state intervention, social organization, and political accountability, while rejecting standard neoliberal prescriptions. It develops these claims through an analysis of French and German labour-market reforms in the 1990s and 2000s and policy responses to the post-2007 crisis. It argues that a focus on the political power of ideas is crucial for understanding broad national adjustment strategies across institutional, policy, and partisan contexts.

Voting for women in nonpartisan and partisan elections

Evidence on whether there is a gender affinity effect in US elections is mixed. In this article, we develop a theory of when gender affinity effects will be present and when they will be absent. Crucial to our theory is electoral context. In nonpartisan contexts, we argue that candidate sex serves as a representational cue and will lead to gender affinity effects in vote choice. However, in partisan contexts, all voters will use partisanship as a cue and there will be no evidence of gender affinity effects. We test and find support for our theory using data on vote choice in the 2012 U.S. state supreme court elections and a set of conjoint experiments. Our results have implications for theories of descriptive representation and the design of electoral institutions.

A Negativity Bias in Reframing Shapes Political Preferences Even in Partisan Contexts

Humans evolved to attend to valence and group membership when learning about their environment. The political domain offers a unique opportunity to study the simultaneous influence of these two broad, domain-general features of human experience. We examined whether the pervasive tendency for negatively valenced frames to “stick” in the mind applies to both intergroup and intragroup political contexts. In a preregistered experiment, we tested the effects of negative-to-positive (vs. positive-to-negative) reframing on people’s candidate preferences, first in the absence of party cue information and then in two partisan contexts: an intergroup context (analogous to a U.S. general election between opposing political parties) and an intragroup context (analogous to a U.S. primary election between candidates of the same party). We observed a persistent negativity bias in reframing effects, even in the presence of party cues. The results pave the way for future research at the intersection of psychology and political science.

Simply a matter of context? Partisan contexts and party loyalties on free votes

While recent studies suggest the party loyalties of Members of Parliament (MPs) influence voting behaviour on free votes independently of personal preferences, it remains to be seen to what extent party loyalties influence MPs’ voting behaviour more generally. To this end, this article examines the impact of the partisan context of the vote on the effects of party loyalties. Using data from 20 divisions decided largely as free votes and controlling for personal preferences using a survey measuring MPs’ attitudes, the analysis shows that the effect of party loyalty on voting behaviour is strongest under the most partisan conditions: when the outcome is anticipated to be close and most consequential to the success/failure of a bill. These findings suggest party loyalty effects may emerge on other highly partisan divisions with partisan consequences and not appear on less partisan divisions.

Party Government and Variation in Corporate Influence on Agency Decision Making: OSHA Regulation, 1981–2006

ObjectiveTo understand how changes in the partisan control of the institutions of government may condition the effect of corporate political activities on bureaucratic decision making.MethodsI examine the variation in the effectiveness of corporate political expenditures in reducing workplace safety (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) violations across partisan contexts between 1981 and 2006 for a large number of corporations.ResultsCorporate expenditures have a greater suppressant effect on workplace safety violations (but not inspections) when the Republicans control the Congress or presidency.ConclusionsCorporations are able to influence bureaucratic decision making, but bureaucrats balance the demands of corporations against those of other party constituencies and their political principals. Thus, the partisan control of government importantly conditions corporate influence in the bureaucracy.

The Social logic of politics: personal networks as contexts for political behavior

Preface Introduction: Theoretical and Methodological Context 1. Alan S. Zuckerman, Returning to the Social Logic of Politics. 2. Robert Huckfeldt, Paul Johnson, and John Sprague, Individuals, Dyads and Networks: Autoregressive Patterns of Political Influence. I - Families as Sources of Strong Political Ties 3. Laura Stoker and M. Kent Jennings, Political Similarity and Influence between Husbands and Wives. 4. Alan S. Zuckerman, Jennifer Fitzgerald, and Josip Dasovic, Do Couples Support the same Political Parties? Sometimes. Evidence from British and German Panel Surveys. 5. Sidney Verba, Kay Schlozman, and Nancy Burns, Family Ties: Understanding the Intergenerational Transmission of Political Participation. II Friends, Workmates, Neighbors, and Political Contexts: the effects of weak ties on electoral choices and political participation 6. Ulrich Kohler, Changing Class Locations and Partisanship in Germany. 7. Jeffrey Levine, Choosing Alone? The Social Network Basis of Modern Political Choice.8. Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz, Friends and Politics: Linking Friendship Diversity to Political Participation. 9. Ann Chih Lin, Networks, Gender and the Use of State Authority: Evidence from a Study of Arab Immigrants in Detroit. 10. Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie, Putting Voters in their Places: Local Context and Voting in England and Wales, 1997. 11. James Gimpel, and J. Celeste Lay, Party Identification, Local Partisan Contexts and the Acquisition of Participatory Attitudes. 12. Christopher Anderson and Aida Paskeviciute, Macro-Politics and Micro-Behavior: Mainstream Politics and the Frequency of Political Discussion in Contemporary Democracies. III. The Social Logic of Politics: Looking Ahead 13. Paul Johnson and Robert Huckfeldt, Agent-Based Explanations for the Survival of Disagreement in Social Networks. 14. James Fowler, Turnout in a Small World.

Right‐Wing Authoritarianism, Party Identification, and Attitudes Toward Feminism in Student Evaluations of the Clinton‐Lewinsky Story

This study explored the relationship among undergraduates' right‐wing authoritarianism (as measured by the RWA scale), attitudes toward feminism, party identification, gender, and attitudes about the Clinton‐Lewinsky relationship. Factor analysis yielded three subscales, reflecting participants' evaluations of Clinton's morality, the affair, and Kenneth Starr (the independent counsel). Republican identification was related to each subscale and also mediated the relationship between RWA and two subscales, which illustrates how party identification channels the expression of personality variables in partisan contexts. In addition, RWA—especially those items tapping aggression—was directly related to negative evaluations of Clinton, which suggests a punitiveness going beyond the mere channeling of opinions by party identification. Attitudes toward feminism were unrelated to the subscales, possibly because feminism supporters viewed Clinton's policies positively but his behavior negatively. However, females did give significantly lower evaluations of Clinton and the affair.

National and Partisan Contexts of Europeanization: The Case of the French Socialists

This article affirms the usefulness of thinking of Europeanization and European policy change in terms of national, party and European contexts and their interrelationships. Through a case study of the French Socialists in office, the article seeks to establish that national, party and European policy contexts matter in different ways and in varying degrees. National context provides a set of institutions, interests and referential paradigms which help to make sense of a complex external environment. Party provides a distinctive partisan lens and an enduring political community. Europeanization poses a series of direct and indirect policy challenges and opportunities for nation‐states and party governments. The article considers national and Europeanized pressures to be more significant than partisan processes.