Does austerity cause polarization?

Autor(en)

Evelyne Hübscher, Thomas Sattler, Markus Wagner

Abstrakt

In recent decades, governments in many Western democracies have shown a remarkable consensus in pursuing fiscal austerity measures during periods of strained public finances. In this article, we show that these decisions have consequences for political polarization. Our macro-level analysis of 166 elections since 1980 finds that austerity measures increase both electoral abstention and votes for non-mainstream parties, thereby boosting party system polarization. A detailed analysis of selected austerity episodes also shows that new, small and radical parties benefit most from austerity policies. Finally, survey experiments with a total of 8,800 respondents in Germany, Portugal, Spain and the UK indicate that the effects of austerity on polarization are particularly pronounced when the mainstream right and left parties both stand for fiscal restraint. Austerity is a substantial cause of political polarization and hence political instability in industrialized democracies.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Staatswissenschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

Central European University Vienna, Universität Genf

Journal

British Journal of Political Science

Band

53

Seiten

1170 - 1188

ISSN

0007-1234

Publikationsdatum

2022

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

506014 Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/45b58f05-a88d-4f99-9787-bd56ca557a0e