Partisan Ideology Research Articles

Dissatisfaction with a Slogan: A Comparative Theology between the Politics of the Church and the Theology of Liberalism

This essay offers a comparative theology between the politics of the church and the theology of liberalism. In the fraught conversations about the church and politics in our present-day context, this essay offers a way forward that avoids the pitfalls of anachronistic readings of the New Testament, the coopting of theology by partisan ideologies, the emptying of Christian claims of their distinctive theological idioms, and the desire of the church to be in control. Drawing on recent scholarship on the theology of political liberalism and classical conceptions of the church as polis, this essay brings the politics of the church and the theology of liberalism into a critical comparative dialogue. It offers a helpful way forward for church leaders who seek to be faithful to the politics of the church and engaged in the world in these divisive times.

Mall Cop or Robocop? The Political Determinants of Police Militarization in Brazil

Police militarization is prevalent worldwide. Despite growing interest in the consequences of militarization, few studies focus on its causes. Through the case of Brazilian municipal police forces, we explore the connection between partisan ideology and police militarization. Some research shows that leftist administrations in democracies are more likely to emphasize human rights and less likely to militarize the police. However, leftist administrations might militarize police forces more than centrist and right-wing parties to compensate for perceptions of lower competence to deal with security issues, especially when they face high levels of violent crime. Using inverse probability of treatment weights, we show an association between leftist mayors and higher militarization of municipal police forces. Furthermore, in contexts of high homicide rates, mayors of Brazil’s leading leftist party, the Workers' Party, tend to militarize local police more than others.

The political economy of earnings management in municipally owned enterprises

PurposeDespite the growing body of empirical literature on earnings management in municipal bodies and enterprises on the municipal level, the theoretical foundations often remain limited. This article contributes to filling this research gap by discussing the agency relationships between entities, managers, politicians and the electorate based on the framework of political economy or, more specifically, economic theory of political action. It derives theoretical explanations for earnings management in municipally owned enterprises based on political-economic approaches and provides conceptual guidelines for further theoretical and empirical research in this field.Design/methodology/approachThe article discusses three specific theoretical approaches of political economy (political budget cycles/election cycles, interest fragmentation and partisan ideology) and applies them to the governance structures of municipally owned enterprises. For each of the perspectives, predictions about the use of earnings management and its possible motivations are derived.FindingsThe study shows that political budget cycles/election cycles, interest fragmentation and partisan ideology in municipal decision-making bodies can serve as possible explanations as to which extent managers of municipally owned enterprises present manipulated financial statements. All three approaches can help to explain the prevalence of earnings management but lead to different results regarding the methods and aims of earnings management.Originality/valueAs a significant portion of the current literature on earnings management in municipally owned enterprises lacks a theoretical foundation, our article aims to fill this caveat. To do so, we introduce three new conceptual perspectives that explain the prevalence of earnings management in such enterprises and the political-economic environments that are more likely to produce manipulated financial statements.

Exploring The Pragmatism of Malaysian Youth Towards Politics

This article delves into the factors shaping the political inclinations of Malaysian youth, a demographic crucial for the nation's future. With youth groups representing nearly half of registered voters, their sway in elections is undeniable. They keenly observe their environment, scrutinizing policies that impact them negatively. Today's youth exhibit heightened political awareness, vital for nation-building. Political education, extending beyond elections, fosters civic engagement and societal progress. This study examines the political literacy of Malaysian youth and their pragmatic approach to politics. Through qualitative methods, including library research and interviews with 200 participants of the Sekolah Rukun Negara Program organized by the Institute of Leadership, Excellence and Development (i-LEAD), Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia, it explores the erosion of partisan ideologies among youth. Findings highlighted youth valuing politics for national stability and rejecting divisive racial politics. The study underscores the importance of political education in fostering unity and realizing Malaysia's national ideals.

Illiberal democracy and nutrition advocacy

AbstractMotivationAcross the world, illiberal democracy is on the rise. These majoritarian polities limit individual rights and undermine protections for minorities. Civil society organizations (CSOs) that support human rights and freedom of speech and association in these settings can be repressed.PurposeHow does illiberal democracy impact CSOs that lobby for economic and human development? We examine how illiberal democracy affects organizations advocating for nutrition. Ostensibly, improved nutrition is a valence issue that does not threaten a government's hold on power. But nutrition advocacy may mean criticizing a government's policies and programmes, and hence be seen by governments as hostile.Methods and approachWe focus on India, where illiberal democracy has become more pronounced over the last decade. Structured interviews were conducted in 2021 with three dozen advocacy organizations, donors, and government stakeholders who work on nutrition policy in India. We analyse how the financing of nutrition organizations, access to policy‐making, and advocacy have been affected under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).We divide CSOs into organizations that focus on the design of nutrition programmes, those that prioritize evidence‐based nutrition policies, and those that advocate for the food and nutrition rights of certain communities, including those who are often marginalized.FindingsNutrition advocacy organizations' access to finance has been hampered by amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Partisan ideology and low tolerance of policy accountability affects nutrition CSOs' access to policy debates and decision‐making. Fears about freedom of expression and its impacts on renewal of organizational registrations make the CSOs more timid in their advocacy.These changes disproportionately affect CSOs that focus on evidence and, above all, those that stand up for rights.Policy implicationsAssessments of enabling environments for nutrition policy need to consider better how partisan ideologies and political settlements exclude some groups in society. Moreover, given that illiberal democracy further weakens the value of evidence in policy‐making, donors need to consider how they present evidence and policy feedback when governments see criticism as hostile and politically motivated. Donors also need to consider what illiberal democracy implies for their efforts to support local CSOs: they should be aware that their support can sometimes undermine the legitimacy of CSOs in the eyes of national governments.

Partisan Politics and Excise Tax Rates in the United States

The literature on excise tax rates has provided mixed evidence concerning how partisan ideology affects tax changes. Using a regression discontinuity design and a panel of U.S. states over the period 1970–2019 I find no significant difference in cigarette, distilled spirits, or gasoline excise tax rates between Democratic governors and Republican governors elected by a similar margin. This result is found regardless of whether the governor can run for an additional term or faces a binding term limit. These results are robust to an analysis of the post-southern realignment period, when controlling for southern Democrats, or when analyzing open elections without an incumbent in the running. An implication of this result is that interstate tax competition and the mobility of the tax base dwarfs any ideological differences with respect to excise tax policy.

Psychological profiles of anti-vaccination argument endorsement

The proliferation of anti-vaccination arguments online can threaten immunisation programmes, including those targeting COVID-19. To effectively refute misinformed views about vaccination, communicators need to go beyond providing correct information and debunking of misconceptions, and must consider the underlying motivations of people who hold contrarian views. Drawing on a taxonomy of anti-vaccination arguments that identified 11 “attitude roots”—i.e., psychological attributes—that motivate an individual’s vaccine-hesitant attitude, we assessed whether these attitude roots were identifiable in argument endorsements and responses to psychological construct measures corresponding to the presumed attitude roots. In two UK samples (total n = 1250), we found that participants exhibited monological belief patterns in their highly correlated endorsements of anti-vaccination arguments drawn from different attitude roots, and that psychological constructs representing the attitude roots significantly predicted argument endorsement strength and vaccine hesitancy. We identified four different latent anti-vaccination profiles amongst our participants’ responses. We conclude that endorsement of anti-vaccination arguments meaningfully dovetails with attitude roots clustering around anti-scientific beliefs and partisan ideologies, but that the balance between those attitudes differs considerably between people. Communicators must be aware of those individual differences.

Clustering energy support beliefs to reveal unique sub-populations using self-organizing maps

Americans’ support for energy sources is quite complex and dependent on a range of socio-demographic characteristics. In a novel approach to investigate energy opinions on renewables and fossil fuels, self-organizing maps are employed to cluster individuals solely on their energy beliefs using social survey data collected from Pew Research in the Spring of 2021. These energy preference clusters are then used in regression models to examine attitudes regarding energy policy in the United States. Results from the self-organizing map (SOM) analysis reveal four distinct clusters: energy traditionalists who oppose renewable sources due to partisan ideologies; energy renewers who strongly prefer investment in only renewable energy sources; energy universalists who universally support all forms of energy; and the aberrant cluster, individuals who prefer solar power greatly over wind energy but demonstrate no other energy preference patterns. Results from regression analyses reveal that SOM clusters are highly predictive of attitudes regarding energy policy. Taken together, these results reveal the unique capability of machine learning to categorize human attitudes – which should be of particular interest to energy policymakers when considering the opinions of the electorate.

PENETRASI TANPA LABEL: PENDEKATAN BARU INTERNALISASI IDEOLOGI PANCASILA PADA GENERASI MILENIAL

This article describes millennial Pancasila discourse. Discourse on Pancasila is often combined with discourse on The New Order, ideology politicization, partisan ideology, practical political objectives, and other political discourses. The Pancasila animates citizenship discourse on life, ideology, and state. The discourse on Pancasila has a discursive dynamic that suggests discussion, from power parties using it for political propaganda to its alienation in social life, especially among the millennial age. The article uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) method to analyze big data from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram hashtags for #Pancasila and #Millennial, scientific discourse in journals, and informants. MediaToolKit was used to mine besides informants from Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and Papua provided discourses and narratives. This research explores the Pancasila discourse among the millennial age and a novel technique of ideological penetration called "penetration without a label (Pental)" to internalize Pancasila philosophy.

Effects of Territorial Party Politics on Horizontal Coordination among the German Länder – An Analysis of the COVID-19 Pandemic Management in Germany

ABSTRACT The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 not only put the public health system under considerable pressure, but it also posed a huge challenge for established routines of intergovernmental coordination in Germany. As the Länder are responsible for implementing infection prevention measures, the most senior intergovernmental council, the minister presidents’ conference (MPK), became the central body for pandemic crisis management. In light of high uncertainty, time pressure and public attention, drastic actions were taken to contain the dissemination of the corona virus. Against this background, our paper investigates how party politics impacted on horizontal coordination in times of crisis. The analysis shows that indeed territorial party politics interferes with routines of intergovernmental coordination. While congruence between the federal and Länder governments promotes homogenous implementation of joint MPK resolutions, increasing coalition size and intense party competition make deviations more likely. Finally, partisan ideology plays a key role as parties pursue clearly distinct pandemic management strategies.

Do Parties Matter for Environmental Policy Stringency? Exploring the Program-to-Policy Link for Environmental Issues in 28 Countries 1990–2015

Political parties are crucial in crafting effective national climate policies in democratic states. At the same time, there is a practical and academic debate of whether political parties matter for policy output. This article speaks to this debate by investigating the link between what parties say and what parties do with respect to environmental issues. More concretely, it analyzes whether there is a connection between the degree of environmentalism expressed in parties’ electoral manifestos and national environmental policy output. Theoretically, the article draws on existing research on program-to-policy linkages in general and for environmental issues specifically to argue that saliency of environmentalism in party manifestos shapes more stringent environmental policies. This argument is empirically tested by combining data on policy stringency with data on manifesto contents for 28 countries for the period 1990–2015. The findings corroborate the main hypothesis, which has implications for understanding the overall potential for political parties to structure national environmental politics. The article concludes by sketching broader implications for research on parties’ ability to shape national environmental policy across political systems, and across partisan ideologies.

Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

Abstract Does partisan ideology influence whether Europeans are willing to use nuclear weapons, and if so, how? The US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe have been at the core of European security since the Cold War, but we have still yet to learn what would make Europeans be willing to support their use. In this paper, we present the results of a survey, in which we asked citizens in Germany and the Netherlands about their views on the use of the US nuclear weapons stationed on their territory in four distinct scenarios. Our results indicate that voters of right-wing parties are more likely to approve of the use of nuclear weapons in both countries. There are, however, important differences between the two countries in terms of the degree to which the participants oppose the use of nuclear weapons. These results have implications for NATO's nuclear deterrence posture.

Perceptions and assessments of socialism versus the US System: experimental evidence

ABSTRACT We address three main research questions in this paper. Do U.S. citizens have a realistic view of the U.S. political and economic system? Do citizens have a realistic view of what socialism looks like in most other Western style democracies? And finally, are differences between perception and reality modified by partisan identification and ideology? We run survey experiments with college students in two national universities located in the South in which we randomly ask respondents to evaluate political and economic systems based on either a label (“Socialism” or “The US System”) or a reasonable description of these systems’ main characteristics. Results. Across all participants, the label “Socialism” is slightly less preferred, but respondents are neutral between descriptions of a Socialist system and the current US system. Partisan and ideological differences are evident, however, as Democrats and Liberals rank the descriptions and labels of each system equally (indicating positive perceptions of Socialism), while Republicans and Conservatives assess the description of Socialism much more favorably than the mere label. Our results suggest that partisans do not simply differ in their evaluation of Socialism, but in the conception of what Socialism is. There also appear to be discrepancies in perceptions among partisans about how the US political and economic system is organized, but surprising agreement in evaluating the system as it exists.

Fuelling Politicisation: The AfD and the Politics of Military Interventions in the German Parliament

ABSTRACT In 2017, for the first time in more than 60 years, a populist radical right party, the AfD, gained seats in a Bundestag election. While the AfD’s stance against immigration and European integration is well documented, its preferences towards other foreign and security policy issues are less clear. To overcome this lacuna, I investigate voting records and introduce an original dataset of the legitimising rhetoric in parliament, to grasp the AfD’s position on military interventions vis-à-vis other parties in the Bundestag. The analysis of voting patterns and rhetoric reveals the AfD as a distinct outlier within the German party system. Studying the AfD’s positioning on security issues also contributes to the emerging literature on partisan ideologies, populism and foreign policy. Together with the Left Party, military intervention policies are now contested at both ends of the political spectrum. At the same time, the AfD introduced novel discursive frames for the German context based on the party’s distinct populist radical right ideology. While the AfD has voted in favour of some smaller interventions, it regularly opposes deployments in the Middle East. Furthermore, its nationalist rhetoric breaks with Germany’s traditional ‘civilian power’ role and fuels the politicisation of foreign policy decisions in parliament.

American civil religious rhetoric: putting assumptions to the test

ABSTRACT This paper puts theoretical assumptions about the rhetoric of American Civil Religion (ACR) to the empirical test by analyzing a sample of Presidential election speech from 1960 to 2020. First, we quantify 14 motifs theorized to be part of ACR. Second, we examine the claim that ACR is a non-sectarian religion distinct from Christianity. Third, we consider if ACR is a persistent rhetorical phenomenon. Fourth, we investigate whether ACR articulation transcends partisan ideologies. We find that ACR is a non-sectarian religion which is distinct from Christianity, that it is a persistent rhetorical phenomenon, and that it transcends partisan lines. Nevertheless, we also find that some motifs previously theorized to be core tenets of ACR are conspicuously scant in the data examined.

Major Media Outlets and Climate Change Action: Comparing US Media Coverage of the Green New Deal

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the CNN and Fox News coverage of the US Green New Deal (GND) introduced in 2018 by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Senator Edward J. Markey and discerns how partisan ideologies are shaping media coverage. Our content analysis of 53 news videos identifies themes, actors, and tones that contextualize the landscape of the GND media representation and examines how these elements may indicate presence of political polarization. The greatest indications of polarization were seen in CNN’s and Fox News’s coverage of sub-themes, actors, and tones. The sub-themes under economics, politics, and climate received the most coverage. On both channels, AOC receives significantly more attention than any other actor. Fox News tends to portray the GND negatively, while CNN’s coverage is more positive or neutral. The study highlights the value of studying additional indicators in detail (sub-themes, actors, and tones) to paint a broader picture of political polarization. Political polarization of media content means different audiences are presented with diverging coverage, which can influence their perception and opinions.

Intergovernmental cooperation networks, national policy positions and partisan ideologies: longitudinal evidence from the Council of the European Union

ABSTRACT This study describes and explains the evolution of cooperation networks among member states in the European Union. We examine the effects of similarities between states in their policy positions on specific controversial issues, the ideological orientations of their national governments, and the presence of populist parties in national governments. This builds on a prominent explanation of political ties, according to which political actors who share similar characteristics are likely to cooperate. The analysis examines cooperation networks in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper I), one of the highest-level committees in the Council, in the period 2003–2018. The findings indicate that states with similar policy positions on specific controversial issues tend to form cooperative relationships, while party ideology indirectly and relatively weakly affects the formation of ties. Surprisingly, the presence of populist parties is unrelated to network evolution. These findings have implications for the extent to which cooperation in the Council is shaped by national democratic processes.

Mock News: On the discourse of mocking in U.S. televised political discussions

American televised political shows are under tremendous pressure to succeed within an economic model that requires maximizing viewership. In response to this growing financial pressure, political shows invite contentious guests to discuss current events and issues. Such discussions are often confrontational, making a mockery of the responsibility the news industry has in disseminating information in an impartial and insightful way. Although outrage is a common discourse feature of televised political shows, little is known about what this language looks like and how it is used to argue ideological positions. To this end, drawing from critical discourse analysis, this study investigates the multidimensional and multifunctional aspects of mocking, which is a type of outrage discourse. The findings show that mocking is an important argumentative tool for panel members, which occurs in the turn following an opposing viewpoint and is used to carry out a range of actions, including expressing disagreement, establishing a competing ideological position, and refuting an idea based on an opponent’s political identity, to name a few. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how mocking and mock news feed into partisan ideologies, creating both tribalism and skepticism within society.

Beyond coalition presidentialism: evidence of a subnational pressure in the Brazilian legislative

In Brazil, literature tends to emphasize the political power of the federal executive in the legislative process. The objective of this paper is to revisit the position of prominent actors (federal Executive and party leaders), especially in fiscal matters. In order to do so, we will analyze processes in which the influence of state governments in Congress is visible, with an emphasis on fiscal measures adopted since the 1990s. We used process tracing and content analysis, based on several legislative documents (propositions, technical advice, votes, and technical notes) and 12 interviews of central actors in the process of renegotiating debts that took place in 2018. The subnational governments (governors and mayors) pressure parliamentarians to paralyze any proposal that involves a change in the tax collection system in federated entities. Beyond fiscal matters, the federalist structure has also affected intergovernmental relations in other areas of public policy, such as building the legal framework for basic sanitation. Our results indicate that the centralization of federal Executive power in Brazilian legislative process is not absolute. The articulation by the federal government was fundamental in the construction of agreements. There are incentives linked to an electoral aspect, partisan ideologies, and pressure groups that oppose changes to the rules of sanitation services as well as in many fiscal and budgetary matters.

An assessment of the effect of partisan ideology on shale gas production and the implications for environmental regulations

The production of shale gas depends not only on shale resources and capital investment but also on having a flexible and stable policy environment. This paper examines whether and how partisan ideology affects the extraction of shale gas. We use panel fixed effects as well as the system–generalized method of moments approach with quarterly panel data from 15 US states over the period 2007−2016. We consider not only the political ideology of the state governor but also the state legislature’s influence on the governor, control over the governorship and the legislature by the same party, the reelection of an incumbent government, and turnover in the political party in power. The results indicate that because the right-leaning party is more likely to support shale gas development, when a member of that party heads the state government, shale gas production performance is higher than when the left-leaning party is in power. Therefore, the production of shale gas rises with a turnover in political control from left to right, reelection of a right-leaning incumbent, and more right-leaning power in the state legislature. We believe our results shed light on the role of partisan ideology in shale gas production, which has implications for environmental regulations.