Political Polarization measured by actual behaviour of Parties’. Measuring political polarization in the Dutch Tweede Kamer through parliamentary resolutions and party manifestos
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2020-06-19
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en
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Abstract
Polarization is used as a key word to describe the conflicting positions of political parties in the political system and in society. An increase of polarization is an important indicator for social and political unrest. The negative impact of polarization on the democratic functionality of the state is visible in the literature. However, contemporary research struggled with a missing link in researching political polarization.
This study introduces a new method, one that covers three processes deemed important in measuring polarization: the actual voting behavior of parties (seen in parliamentary resolutions); coalition building; and responses to changing social attitudes. Introducing the indicator ‘parliamentary resolution’ enables comprehensive measurement of political polarization during governmental incumbency, covering all three processes. Using the new method, this study tries to answer the following question:
To what extent does the new method, including parliamentary resolutions, offer a different view on the political polarization level and what new insight does it provide for the research of polarization?
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen