United we stand: Constituency homogeneity and comparative party polarization

We argue that party polarization is a function of parties' distances, their internal homogeneity, and their relative sizes. While existing measures in political science incorporate the first and last feature, party homogeneity is typically neglected. Since virtually all polarization measures in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electoral studies 2010-03, Vol.29 (1), p.40-53
Main Authors: Rehm, Philipp, Reilly, Timothy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative analysis
Constituencies
Constituency
Homogeneity
Left–right
Measurement
OECD
Party expert surveys
Party organization
Party politics
Party positions
Polarization
Political affiliation
Political Parties
Political Science
Surveys
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Summary:We argue that party polarization is a function of parties' distances, their internal homogeneity, and their relative sizes. While existing measures in political science incorporate the first and last feature, party homogeneity is typically neglected. Since virtually all polarization measures in one way or another incorporate distance, we suggest a simple way to adjust distance measures for party homogeneity. We then examine levels and trends of polarization in nine OECD countries using a newly collected data-set which includes left–right party positions based on both expert and mass surveys.
ISSN:0261-3794
1873-6890
DOI:10.1016/j.electstud.2009.05.005