Editorial: The Political Polarization: Definition, Dimensions, Measuring, Results and Effects
Debate: The Political Polarization. A Multidimensional Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.109Keywords:
polarization, ideology, public policies, national identity, postmaterialism, GAL/TANAbstract
This article provides an introduction to the state of the question of political polarisation. It is part of the Debate section of the CENTRA Journal of Social Sciences, devoted to contrasting the different approaches to its definition, its dimensions, its measurement and the empirical evidence on its impact and evolution in Spain, from a comparative perspective. Political polarisation, whatever its variant (ideological, affective, everyday, etc.) or inspiration and dialectical battlefield (ideological, identity-based, value-based, etc.), is the confrontation between elites and/or citizens aligned in irreconcilable blocs. It begins with a conceptual delimitation and the evidence of its socio-political relevance, distinguishing its presence among elites and citizens in order to highlight its emotional component, as well as its possible causes and effects. Its multidimensional nature and measurement give way, precisely, to the three articles referring, respectively, to the measurement and evaluation of ideological polarisation, identity polarisation and the so-called GAL/TAN.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Apter, D. (Ed.) (1963). Ideologie and Discontent. New York: Free Press.
Arias, M. (2016). La democracia sentimental. Política y emociones en el s. XXI. Barcelona: Página Indómita.
Bartolini, S. y Mair, P. (1960). Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Budge, I. et al. (Eds.) (1976). Party Identification and Beyond. London: Wiley.
Budge, I., Robertson, D. y Hearl, D. (Eds.) (1987). Ideology, Strategy and Party Change: Spatial Analyses of Post-War Election Programmes in 19 Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Campbell, A., Gurin, G. y Miller, W. E. (1954). The voter Decides. Evanston: Row, Peterson & Co.
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E. y Stokes, D. E. (1960). The American Voter. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Castles, F. G. y Mair, P. (1984). Left-right political scales: some ‘expert’ judgements. European Journal of Political Research, 12, 73-88.
Clark, C. J., Liu, B. S., Winegard, B. M. y Ditto, P. H. (2019). Tribalism is Human Nature. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28/6, 587-592.
Crespo, I., Melero, I., Mora, A. y Rojo, J. M. (2024). Política, uso de medios y polarización afectiva en España. Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación, 15/2, 1-18.
Daalder, H. y Mair, P. (Eds.) (1983). Western European Party Systems: continuity and change. Beverly Hills, London: Sage.
De Benoist, A. (1977). Vu de droite. Anthologie crìtique des idées contemporaines. Paris: Copernic.
Enelow, J. M. y Hinich, M. J. (1984). The Spatial Theory of Voting. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Enelow, J. M. y Hinich, M. J. (1990). Advances in the Spatial Theory of Elections. New York, Cambridge Univ. Press:
Enelow, J. M. y Munger, M. C. (1992). The Spatial Theory of Ideology. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 4, 5-27.
Funke, M., Schularick, M. y Trebesch, C. (2016). Going to Extremes: Politics after Financial Crisis, 1870-2014. European Economic Review, 88, 227-260.
Gramsci, A. ([1924] 2018). Los intelectuales y la formación de la cultura. Buenos Aires: Marcial Pons.
Hernández, E. y Kriesi, H. (2016). The Electoral Consequences of the Financial and Economic Crisis in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 55/2, 203-224.
Hooghe, L., Marks, G. y Wilson, C. J. (2002). Does left/right structure party positions on European integration? Comparative Political Studies, 35/8, 965-989.
Hooghe, L. y Marks, G. (2018). Cleavage Theory Meets Europe’s Crisis: Lipset, Rokkan, and the Transnational Cleavage. Journal of European Public Policy, 25/1, 109-135.
Hunter, J. D. (1991). Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York: Basic Books.
Inglehart, R. (1977). The Silent Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
Iyengar, S., Sood, G. y Lelkes, Y. (2012). Affec, not ideology: a social identity perspective on polarization. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76/3, 405-431.
Katz, R. y Mair, P. (2018). Democracy and the Cartelization of Political Parties. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Klingemann, H. D. (1995). Party Positions and Voter Orientations. En H. D. Kliengemann y D. Fuchs (Eds.), Citizens and the State (pp. 183-205). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Kroh, Martin (2007). Measuring Left-right Political Orientation: The Choice of Response Format. Public Opinion Quarterly, 71/2, 204-220.
Kubin, E. y von Sikorski, C. (2021). The role of (social) media in political polarization: a systematic review. Annals of the International Communication Association, 45/3, 188-206.
Leonisio, R. (2015). Del triángulo al cuadrado. Aplicación de la teoría de los cleavages a la historia política vasca. Historia Actual Online, 36, 185-196.
Levitsky, S. y Ziblatt, D. (2018). Cómo mueren las democracias. Madrid: Ariel.
Linz, J. J. (1973). Early State-Building and Late Peripheral Nationalisms against the State. En S. N. Eisenstadt y S. Rokkan (Eds.), Building States and Nations: Models, Analyses and Data across Three Worlds (vol. 2, pp. 32-112). Beverly Hills: Sage.
Linz, J. J. (1985). From Primordialism to Nationalism. En E. A. Tiryakian y R. Rogowski (Eds.), New Nationalism of the Developed West (pp. 203-253). Boston: Allen & Unwin.
Linz, J. J. et al. (1981). Informe sociológico sobre el cambio político en España. Madrid: Euramérica.
Linz, J. J. et al. (1986). Conflicto en Euskadi. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
Lipset, S. M. y Rokkan, S. (Eds.) (1967). Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. New York: The Free Press.
Llera, F. J. (2013). ETA: medio siglo de terrorismo y limpieza étnica en Euskadi. Sistema, 231, 3-46.
Llera, F. J. (Ed.) (2016a). Las elecciones autonómicas en el País Vasco, 1980-2012. Madrid: CIS.
Llera, F. J. (Coord.) (2016b). Desafección política y regeneración democrática en la España actual: diagnósticos y propuestas. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales.
Llera, F. J. y Leonisio, R. (2017). La estrategia del miedo. ETA y la espiral del silencio en el País Vasco. Informe del Centro Memorial de las Víctimas del Terrorismo, 1.
Llera, F. J., García, J. y León, J. M. (2022). Midiendo la espiral del silencio en contextos de violencia política: el caso vasco. Revista Española de Ciencia Política, 58, 111-140.
Llera, F. J., Leonisio, Rafael y Pérez, S. (2017). The influence of the elites’ discourse in political attitudes: evidence from the Basque Country. National Identities, 10(4), 367-393.
Llera, F. J. y León, J. M. (2023). Coalicionabilidad en un contexto de pluralismo polarizado: el caso vasco. En J. I. Estévez et al. (Eds.), Gobernabilidad y Gobiernos de Coalición. Buenos Aires: Cátedra Abierta Democracia y Parlamento Futuro.
Maslow, A. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50/4, 370-396.
Medina, L. (2018). Cataluña: ¿Una sociedad dividida por la mitad? El efecto del contexto entre los no nacionalistas. Quaderns de l’ICPS, Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials.
Miller, L. (2023). Polarizados: La política que nos divide. Barcelona: Deusto.
Moberg, E. (2014). Towards a Science of States: their Evolution and Properties. Lund Skäne: Mobergs Publ.
Mudde, C. y Rovira, C. (2018). Studying populism in comparative perspective: reflections on the contemporary and future research agenda. Comparative Political Studies, 51/13, 1667-1693.
Norris, P. e Inglehart, R. (2019). Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Pallarés, F., Montero, J. R. y Llera, F. J. (1997). Non State-wide Parties in Spain: An Attitudinal Study of Nationalism and Regionalism. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 27, 4, 135-169.
Rojo, J. M. y Crespo-Martínez, I. (2023). Lo político como algo personal: una revisión teórica sobre la polarización afectiva. Revista de Ciencia Política, 43/1, 25-48.
Rokkan, S. (1970). Citizens, elections, parties. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Sanders, D. (1999). The Impact of Left-rightIdeology. En G. Evans y P. Norris (Eds.), Critical Elections. British Parties and Voters in Long-term Perspective (pp. 182-206). London: Sage.
Sani, G. y Sartori, G. (1983). Polarization, Fragmentation and Competition in Western Democracies. En H. Daalder y P. Mair (Eds.), Western European Party Systems: Continuity and Change. London: Sage.
Sartori, G. (1966). European Political Parties: The Case of Polarized Pluralism. En J. LaPalombara y M. Weiner (Eds.), Political Parties and Political Development (pp. 137-176). Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
Sartori, G. (1980). Partidos y sistemas de partidos. Madrid: Alianza.
Stokes, D. E., Campbell, A. y Miller, W. E. (1958). Components of electoral decision. American Political Science Review, 52, 367-387.
Torcal, M. y Martini, S. (2018). Los efectos negativos de la polarización política: confianza social, partidismo e identidades nacionales/territoriales en España. Anuario de la facultad de Derecho de la Univ. Autónoma de Madrid, 17, 333-354.
Torcal, M. y Montero, J. R. (Eds.) (2006). Political disaffection in contemporary democracies. London: Routledge.
Van Deth, J. W. y Geurts, P. (1989). Value orientation, left-right placement and voting. European Journal of Political Research, 17, 17-34.
Westwood, S. J., Iyengar, S., Walgrave, S., Leonisio, R., Miller, L. y Strijbis, O. (2018). The tie that divides: Cross-national evidence of the primacy of partyism. European Journal of Political Research, 57/2, 333-354.
Wolinetz, S. y Zaslove, A. (2018). Absorbing the Blow Populist Parties and their Impact on Parties and Party Systems. ECPR Press.
Yarchi, M., Baden, C. y Kligler-Vilenchnik, N. (2021). Political polarization on the digital sphere: A cross-platform, over-time analysis of international, positional, and affective polarization on social media. Political Communication, 38/1-2, 98-139.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Francisco José Llera Ramo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
