Mapping and explaining the use of the left-right divide

Freire, André; Kivistik, Kats

Abstract

This study is about mapping and explaining the use of the Left-Right divide across 14 countries from 5 Continents and relies on the richness of the post electoral mass surveys from the Comparative National Election Project: 14 countries and 18 elections spread over 5 continents. The paper shows not only how extensively the LR divide is used in these 14 countries, but also explains variation across both individuals and countries in terms of the factors determining LR recognition and use. Overall, it is shown that, although seen world-wide, the LR divide (both for self-placement and party placement) is more present in long consolidated and middle-aged democracies and countries with freer media systems than in new democracies and societies with less free media systems. In the case of parties LR placement, party size also counts: larger parties are more easily placed. Additionally, we also show that LR recognition is more socially and politically determined in long consolidated and middle-aged democracies and in countries with more freedom of the press than in new democracies and in systems with less free media system. These findings add to the existing knowledge about these topics because previous studies were either country/Continent specific, or, if global in nature, never invested in explaining individual and system variation across 14 from 5 Continents. Besides, these findings mean that in the long term probably the new democracies will converge with the long consolidated or middle-aged ones, but this is an empirical question to be researched in future studies.

Left-right; America; Europe; Africa; Asia

ACHEN, Christopher. (2005), "Two-Step Hierarchical Estimation: Beyond Regression Analysis". Political Analysis, vol. 13, nº 4, pp. 447-456.
ARON, Raymond. (2002), L'Opium des Intellectueles, Paris: Hachette.
BARNES, Samuel H. (2002), "Left and Right in Old and New Democracies". Central European Political Science Review, vol. 3, nº7, pp. 6-15.
BARNES, Samuel H.; McDONOUGH, Peter; PINA, António L. (1985), "The development of partisanship in new democracies: the case of Spain". American Journal of Political Science, nº 29, pp. 695-720.
BECK, Paul A.; DALTON, Russell J.; GREENE, Steven; HUCKFELDT, Robert. (2002), "The Social Calculus of Voting: Interpersonal, Media, and Organizational Influences on Presidential Choices". The American Political Science Review, vol.96, nº1, pp. 57-73.
BELL, Daniel. (2000), The End of Ideology. On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties Harvard: Harvard University Press.
BOBBIO, Norberto. (1994), Direita e Esquerda. Lisbon: Presença.
CAMPBELL, Angus; CONVERSE, Philip E.; MILLER, Warren E.; STOKES, Donald E. (1980), The American Voter Chicago: Chicago University Press.
CARAMANI, Daniele (2004), The Nationalization of Politics. The Formation of National Electorates and Party Systems in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CONVERSE, Philip E. (1964), The nature of belief systems in mass publics, In: Apter, David. Ideology and Discontent New York: The Free Press.
CONVERSE, Philip E. (1969), "Of time and partisan stability". Comparative Political Studies, vol. 2, pp. 139-171.
COLOMER, Josep M. and ESCATEL, Luis E. (2005), The Left-Right Dimension in Latin America. UPF Economics and Business Working Paper, nº 813.
DALTON, Russell J. (2006). Social Modernization and the End of Ideology Debate: Patterns of Ideological Polarization. Japanese Journal of Political Science vol.7, nº1, pp. 1-22.
DALTON, Russell J.; FARREL, David M.; MCALLISTER, Ian. (2011), Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DIX, Robert H. (1992), "Democratization and the institutionalization of Latin American Political Parties", Comparative Political Studies, vol. 24, nº4, pp. 488-511.
EVANS, Geoffrey and WHITEFIELD, Stephen. (1998), The evolution of left and right in post-Soviet Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 50, nº6, pp. 1023-1042.
FRANKLIN, Mark.; MACKIE, Thomas.; VALEN, Henry (eds.). (1992), Electoral Change. Responses to Evolving Social and Attitudinal Structures in Western Countries, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
FREIRE, André. (2006a), Left-Right Ideological Identities in New Democracies: Greece, Portugal and Spain in the Western European Context", Pôle Sud - Revue de Science Politique de l'Europe Méridionale, nº 25, vol. II, pp. 153-173.
FREIRE, André. (2006b), Bringing Social Identities Back In: The Social Anchors of Left-Right Orientation in Western Europe. International Political Science Review, vol. 27, nº4, pp. 359-378.
FREIRE, André (2008). Party Polarization and Citizens' Left-Right Orientations. Party Politics, 14(2), pp.189-209.
FREIRE, André and BELCHIOR, Ana M. (2011), What left and right means to Portuguese citizens. Comparative European Politics, vol. 9, nº2, pp. 145-167.
FREIRE, André and KIVISTIK, Kats (2013), «Western and Non-Western Meaning of the left-right divide across four continents», Journal of Political Ideologies, vol.18, nº 2, pp. 171-199.
FUCHS, Dieter and KLINGEMANN, Hans-Dieter (1990), "The Left-Right Schema". In: JENNINGS, M. Kent et al, Continuities in Political Action, Berlin de Gruyter, pp. 203-234.
FUKUYAMA, Francis (1989), "The end of history". The National Interest, 16.
GIDDENS, Anthony (1996), Más Allá de la Izquierda y la Derecha Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra.
GUNTHER, Richard and KUAN, Hsin-chi (2007), "Value Cleavages and Partisan Conflict". In: GUNTHER, Richard, MONTERO, José Ramon and PUHLE, Hans-Jürgen. Democracy, Intermediation, and Voting on Four Continents Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 255-320.
GUNTHER, Richard and MONTERO, José R. (2001), «The Anchors of Partisanship: A Comparative Analysis of Voting Behaviour in Four Southern European Countries". In: DIAMANDOUROS, Nikiforos and GUNTHER, Richard (orgs.) (2001), Parties, Politics, and Democracy in New Southern Europe. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, pp. 83-152.
HEYWOOD, Andrew (2003), Political Ideologies. An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
HUBER, John and INGLEHART, Ronald. (1995), "Expert interpretations of party space and party locations in 42 societies", Party Politics, vol. 1, nº 73, p. 111.
INGLEHART, Ronald and KLINGEMANN, Hans D. (1976), Party identification, ideological preference and the left-right dimension among Western mass publics. In: BUDGE, Ian ed. Party identification and Beyond, London and New York, Wiley.
JOU, Willy (2010), "The heuristic value of the left-right schema in East Asia", International Political Science Review, vol. 31, nº3, pp. 366-394.
JOVELL, Albert J. (1995), Análisis de Regresión Logística Madrid: CIS.
JUSKO, Karen L. and SHIVELY, W. Philips. (2005), "Applying a Two-Step Strategy to the Analysis of Cross-National Public Opinion Data". Political Analysis, vol.13, nº4, pp. 327-344.
KIECOLT, K. Jill and NATHAN, Laura E. (1985), Secondary Analysis of Survey Data London: Sage.
KITSCHELT, Herbert and HELLEMANS, Staf. (1990), The left-right semantics and the new politics cleavage. Comparative Political Studies. vol.23, nº2: pp. 210-238.
KITSCHELT, Herbert; MANSFELDOVA, Zdenka; MARKOWSKI, Radoslaw; TOKA, Gabor (eds.). (1999), Post-Communist Party Systems. Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation NY: Cambridge University Press.
KLINGEMANN, Hans-Dieter (1979), "Measuring ideological conceptualizations", "The background of ideological conceptualization". In: BARNES, Samuel et al, Political Action Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 215-253, 255-277.
KNUTSEN, Oddbjørn (1997), "The Partisan and the Value-Based Components of Left-right Self-placement: A Comparative Study". International Political Science Review, vol. 18, pp.191-225.
KNUTSEN, Oddbjørn (1998). The strength of the partisan component of left-right Identity. A comparative longitudinal study of left-right party polarization in eight West European countries. Party Politics, 4, pp. 5-31.
KNUTSEN, Oddbjørn and SCARBROUGH, Elinor. (1995), "Cleavage politics". In: DETH, J. W. Van and SCARBROUGH, E. The Impact of Values Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 492-524.
LACHAT, Romain (2008), "The impact of party polarization on ideological voting". Electoral Studies, vol. 27, pp. 687-698.
LAPONCE, Jean A. (1981), Left and Right. The Topography of Political Perceptions Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
LEE, Aie-Rie. (2007), "Value Cleavages, Issues, and Partisanship in East Asia", Journal of East Asian Studies vol.7, nº2, pp. 251-274.
LIPSET, Seymour M. (1987), "¿El fin de toda ideología?" and "Un concepto y su historia: el fin de la ideología". In LIPSET, Seymour M. El Hombre Político. Las Bases Sociales de la Política. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos, pp. 357-372 e 420-448.
LUNA, Juan P. and ZECHMEISTER, Elizabeth J. (2010), "Political representation in Latin American". In: KITSCHELT, Herbert et al (2010) (eds.) Latin American Party Systems NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 119-144.
MAAS, Cora J.M. and HOX, Joop J. (2005), "Sufficient Sample Sizes for Multilevel Modelling". Methodology, vol.1, nº3, pp. 86-92.
MCALLISTER, Ian and WHITE, Stephen. (2007), Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation in Post-Communist Societies. Party Politics vol.13, nº2, pp.197-216.
MAINWARING, Scott P. and TORCAL, Mariano. (2005), "Party System Theory and Party System Institutionalization after the Third Wave of Democratization." Paper presented at the Political Science Seminar of the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
MARKOWSKI, Radoslaw. (1997), Political Parties and Ideological Spaces in east Central Europe. Communist and Post-Communist Studies vol. 30, nº3, pp. 221-254.
NIEMI, Richard G.; POWELL JR, G. Bingham; STANLEY, Harold W.; EVANS, C. Lawrence. (1985), "Testing the converse partisanship model with new electorates", Comparative Political Studies, vol. 18, pp. 300-322.
NOËL, Alain and THÉRIEN, Jean-Philippe (2008), Left and Right in Global Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ROSE, Richard and MUNRO, Neil (2003), Elections and Parties in New European Democracies Washington: CQ Press.
WELDON, Steven A. (2006), "The Institutional Context of Tolerance for Ethnic Minorities: A Comparative Multilevel Analysis of Western Europe". American Journal of Political Science, vol. 50, nº2, pp. 331-349.
VAN DER EIJK, Cees; SCHMITT, Hermann; BINDER, Tanja. (2005), "Left-right Orientations and Party Choice". In: THOMASSEN, Jacques (ed.), The European Voter. A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 167-191.
ZECHMEISTER, Elizabeth. (2006). What's Left and Who's Right? A Q-method Study of Individual and Contextual Influences on the Meaning of Ideological Labels. Political Behavior vol. 28: pp.151-173.
ZECHMEISTER, Elizabeth. (2010), "Left-right semantics as a facilitator of Programmatic Structuration". In: KITSCHELT, Herbert et al (2010) (eds.) Latin American Party Systems NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 76-118.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
21 Feb 2014
Date of issue
2013

History

Received
May 2012
Accepted
Aug 2013

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

[1] ACHEN, Christopher. (2005), "Two-Step Hierarchical Estimation: Beyond Regression Analysis". Political Analysis, vol. 13, nº 4, pp. 447-456.

[2] ARON, Raymond. (2002), L'Opium des Intellectueles, Paris: Hachette.

[3] BARNES, Samuel H. (2002), "Left and Right in Old and New Democracies". Central European Political Science Review, vol. 3, nº7, pp. 6-15.

[4] BARNES, Samuel H.; McDONOUGH, Peter; PINA, António L. (1985), "The development of partisanship in new democracies: the case of Spain". American Journal of Political Science, nº 29, pp. 695-720.

[5] BECK, Paul A.; DALTON, Russell J.; GREENE, Steven; HUCKFELDT, Robert. (2002), "The Social Calculus of Voting: Interpersonal, Media, and Organizational Influences on Presidential Choices". The American Political Science Review, vol.96, nº1, pp. 57-73.

[6] BELL, Daniel. (2000), The End of Ideology. On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties Harvard: Harvard University Press.

[7] BOBBIO, Norberto. (1994), Direita e Esquerda. Lisbon: Presença.

[8] CAMPBELL, Angus; CONVERSE, Philip E.; MILLER, Warren E.; STOKES, Donald E. (1980), The American Voter Chicago: Chicago University Press.

[9] CARAMANI, Daniele (2004), The Nationalization of Politics. The Formation of National Electorates and Party Systems in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[10] CONVERSE, Philip E. (1964), The nature of belief systems in mass publics, In: Apter, David. Ideology and Discontent New York: The Free Press.

[11] CONVERSE, Philip E. (1969), "Of time and partisan stability". Comparative Political Studies, vol. 2, pp. 139-171.

[12] COLOMER, Josep M. and ESCATEL, Luis E. (2005), The Left-Right Dimension in Latin America. UPF Economics and Business Working Paper, nº 813.

[13] DALTON, Russell J. (2006). Social Modernization and the End of Ideology Debate: Patterns of Ideological Polarization. Japanese Journal of Political Science vol.7, nº1, pp. 1-22.

[14] DALTON, Russell J.; FARREL, David M.; MCALLISTER, Ian. (2011), Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[15] DIX, Robert H. (1992), "Democratization and the institutionalization of Latin American Political Parties", Comparative Political Studies, vol. 24, nº4, pp. 488-511.

[16] EVANS, Geoffrey and WHITEFIELD, Stephen. (1998), The evolution of left and right in post-Soviet Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 50, nº6, pp. 1023-1042.

[17] FRANKLIN, Mark.; MACKIE, Thomas.; VALEN, Henry (eds.). (1992), Electoral Change. Responses to Evolving Social and Attitudinal Structures in Western Countries, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

[18] FREIRE, André. (2006a), Left-Right Ideological Identities in New Democracies: Greece, Portugal and Spain in the Western European Context", Pôle Sud - Revue de Science Politique de l'Europe Méridionale, nº 25, vol. II, pp. 153-173.

[19] FREIRE, André. (2006b), Bringing Social Identities Back In: The Social Anchors of Left-Right Orientation in Western Europe. International Political Science Review, vol. 27, nº4, pp. 359-378.

[20] FREIRE, André (2008). Party Polarization and Citizens' Left-Right Orientations. Party Politics, 14(2), pp.189-209.

[21] FREIRE, André and BELCHIOR, Ana M. (2011), What left and right means to Portuguese citizens. Comparative European Politics, vol. 9, nº2, pp. 145-167.

[22] FREIRE, André and KIVISTIK, Kats (2013), «Western and Non-Western Meaning of the left-right divide across four continents», Journal of Political Ideologies, vol.18, nº 2, pp. 171-199.

[23] FUCHS, Dieter and KLINGEMANN, Hans-Dieter (1990), "The Left-Right Schema". In: JENNINGS, M. Kent et al, Continuities in Political Action, Berlin de Gruyter, pp. 203-234.

[24] FUKUYAMA, Francis (1989), "The end of history". The National Interest, 16.

[25] GIDDENS, Anthony (1996), Más Allá de la Izquierda y la Derecha Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra.

[26] GUNTHER, Richard and KUAN, Hsin-chi (2007), "Value Cleavages and Partisan Conflict". In: GUNTHER, Richard, MONTERO, José Ramon and PUHLE, Hans-Jürgen. Democracy, Intermediation, and Voting on Four Continents Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 255-320.

[27] GUNTHER, Richard and MONTERO, José R. (2001), «The Anchors of Partisanship: A Comparative Analysis of Voting Behaviour in Four Southern European Countries". In: DIAMANDOUROS, Nikiforos and GUNTHER, Richard (orgs.) (2001), Parties, Politics, and Democracy in New Southern Europe. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, pp. 83-152.

[28] HEYWOOD, Andrew (2003), Political Ideologies. An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

[29] HUBER, John and INGLEHART, Ronald. (1995), "Expert interpretations of party space and party locations in 42 societies", Party Politics, vol. 1, nº 73, p. 111.

[30] INGLEHART, Ronald and KLINGEMANN, Hans D. (1976), Party identification, ideological preference and the left-right dimension among Western mass publics. In: BUDGE, Ian ed. Party identification and Beyond, London and New York, Wiley.

[31] JOU, Willy (2010), "The heuristic value of the left-right schema in East Asia", International Political Science Review, vol. 31, nº3, pp. 366-394.

[32] JOVELL, Albert J. (1995), Análisis de Regresión Logística Madrid: CIS.

[33] JUSKO, Karen L. and SHIVELY, W. Philips. (2005), "Applying a Two-Step Strategy to the Analysis of Cross-National Public Opinion Data". Political Analysis, vol.13, nº4, pp. 327-344.

[34] KIECOLT, K. Jill and NATHAN, Laura E. (1985), Secondary Analysis of Survey Data London: Sage.

[35] KITSCHELT, Herbert and HELLEMANS, Staf. (1990), The left-right semantics and the new politics cleavage. Comparative Political Studies. vol.23, nº2: pp. 210-238.

[36] KITSCHELT, Herbert; MANSFELDOVA, Zdenka; MARKOWSKI, Radoslaw; TOKA, Gabor (eds.). (1999), Post-Communist Party Systems. Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation NY: Cambridge University Press.

[37] KLINGEMANN, Hans-Dieter (1979), "Measuring ideological conceptualizations", "The background of ideological conceptualization". In: BARNES, Samuel et al, Political Action Beverly Hills: Sage, pp. 215-253, 255-277.

[38] KNUTSEN, Oddbjørn (1997), "The Partisan and the Value-Based Components of Left-right Self-placement: A Comparative Study". International Political Science Review, vol. 18, pp.191-225.

[39] KNUTSEN, Oddbjørn (1998). The strength of the partisan component of left-right Identity. A comparative longitudinal study of left-right party polarization in eight West European countries. Party Politics, 4, pp. 5-31.

[40] KNUTSEN, Oddbjørn and SCARBROUGH, Elinor. (1995), "Cleavage politics". In: DETH, J. W. Van and SCARBROUGH, E. The Impact of Values Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 492-524.

[41] LACHAT, Romain (2008), "The impact of party polarization on ideological voting". Electoral Studies, vol. 27, pp. 687-698.

[42] LAPONCE, Jean A. (1981), Left and Right. The Topography of Political Perceptions Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

[43] LEE, Aie-Rie. (2007), "Value Cleavages, Issues, and Partisanship in East Asia", Journal of East Asian Studies vol.7, nº2, pp. 251-274.

[44] LIPSET, Seymour M. (1987), "¿El fin de toda ideología?" and "Un concepto y su historia: el fin de la ideología". In LIPSET, Seymour M. El Hombre Político. Las Bases Sociales de la Política. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos, pp. 357-372 e 420-448.

[45] LUNA, Juan P. and ZECHMEISTER, Elizabeth J. (2010), "Political representation in Latin American". In: KITSCHELT, Herbert et al (2010) (eds.) Latin American Party Systems NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 119-144.

[46] MAAS, Cora J.M. and HOX, Joop J. (2005), "Sufficient Sample Sizes for Multilevel Modelling". Methodology, vol.1, nº3, pp. 86-92.

[47] MCALLISTER, Ian and WHITE, Stephen. (2007), Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation in Post-Communist Societies. Party Politics vol.13, nº2, pp.197-216.

[48] MAINWARING, Scott P. and TORCAL, Mariano. (2005), "Party System Theory and Party System Institutionalization after the Third Wave of Democratization." Paper presented at the Political Science Seminar of the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.

[49] MARKOWSKI, Radoslaw. (1997), Political Parties and Ideological Spaces in east Central Europe. Communist and Post-Communist Studies vol. 30, nº3, pp. 221-254.

[50] NIEMI, Richard G.; POWELL JR, G. Bingham; STANLEY, Harold W.; EVANS, C. Lawrence. (1985), "Testing the converse partisanship model with new electorates", Comparative Political Studies, vol. 18, pp. 300-322.

[51] NOËL, Alain and THÉRIEN, Jean-Philippe (2008), Left and Right in Global Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[52] ROSE, Richard and MUNRO, Neil (2003), Elections and Parties in New European Democracies Washington: CQ Press.

[53] WELDON, Steven A. (2006), "The Institutional Context of Tolerance for Ethnic Minorities: A Comparative Multilevel Analysis of Western Europe". American Journal of Political Science, vol. 50, nº2, pp. 331-349.

[54] VAN DER EIJK, Cees; SCHMITT, Hermann; BINDER, Tanja. (2005), "Left-right Orientations and Party Choice". In: THOMASSEN, Jacques (ed.), The European Voter. A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 167-191.

[55] ZECHMEISTER, Elizabeth. (2006). What's Left and Who's Right? A Q-method Study of Individual and Contextual Influences on the Meaning of Ideological Labels. Political Behavior vol. 28: pp.151-173.

[56] ZECHMEISTER, Elizabeth. (2010), "Left-right semantics as a facilitator of Programmatic Structuration". In: KITSCHELT, Herbert et al (2010) (eds.) Latin American Party Systems NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 76-118.

Brasil

Brasil

Mapping and explaining the use of the left-right divide

Abstract

Publication Dates

History