Candidate and party affective polarization in U.S. presidential elections: The person-negativity bias?

We investigate the degree of affective polarization in presidential election years toward the two major parties and their nominees. Notwithstanding studies which show that individuating information about an out-group member can generate a person-positivity bias, we demonstrate a person-negativity bias directed at out-party candidates at least for some. We motivate and test two hypotheses: first, we expect more sophisticated partisans to display a greater difference in their feelings towards specific candidates compared to evaluations of the parties themselves; second, we anticipate sophisticated partisans will exhibit a person-negativity bias toward out-party candidates and a person-positivity bias toward in-party candidates. The results accentuate the conditional nature of the person-positivity bias and shed light on how political sophistication is linked to affective polarization.     

Elite communication and affective polarization among voters

How does elite communication influence affective polarization between partisan groups? Drawing on the literature on partisan source cues, we expect that communication from in- or outgroup party representatives will increase affective polarization. We argue that polarized social identities are reinforced by partisan source cues, which bias perceptions of elite communication and result in increased intergroup differentiation. Further, we expect that the effect of such source cues is greater for voters with stronger partisan affinities. To evaluate our hypotheses, we performed a survey experiment among about 1300 voters in Sweden. Our analyses show that individuals who received a factual political message with a source cue from an in- or outgroup representative exhibited higher affective polarization, especially when they already held strong partisan affinities. This suggests that political elites can increase affective polarization by reinforcing existing group identities, and that this occurs in conjunction with biased interpretation of elite communication. The results improve our understanding of how political elites can influence affective polarization and add to previous research on party cues and attitude formation by demonstrating that such source cues can also increase intergroup differentiation.     

Polarization Between Occupier and Occupied in Post-Saddam Iraq: Colonial Humiliation and the Formation of Political Violence

This article analyses the mechanisms of colonial humiliation in post-Saddam Iraq. A case study of the city of Fallujah, where participant observation was carried out on two occasions, provides an account for the polarization between its population and occupation forces, which culminated in the partial destruction of the city in November 2004.     

腐败主体年龄两极化的社会心理分析

当前腐败的一个趋势表现为其主体年龄向年轻化和高龄化两极发展，本文从社会心理角度对这一问题进行了分析，提出了贪婪心理、安全心理和合法心理三大类型十种情况。最后提出了一些初步的治理设想。     

西方国家“轻轻重重”两极化刑事政策评介

20世纪70年代以来,西方国家开始出现了两极化的刑事政策,其不仅体现在刑事实体立法之中,而且体现在刑事诉讼程序及刑事执行等动态运行的全过程之中.刑之谦抑的要求与犯罪高压态势之矛盾促成了两极化刑事政策的生成;调和刑罚报应目的与预防目的的综合刑论是两极化刑事政策的理论基石;刑法保护机能和保障机能之平衡是调整刑事政策的基准和杠杆;犯罪学研究的成果为两极化刑事政策提供了合理的理论支撑.     

消除城乡两极分化的政策性思考——从社会资源分配角度分析

城乡两极分化已成为当今社会关注的热点问题。要解决两极分化,必须找出形成这一社会现象的根源。社会资源的占有不均是城乡收入差距形成的根本原因。城乡两极分化的消除,必须从政府的资源分配政策方面着手。     

网络“悯弱”舆论之现实性考证

同情弱者无疑是必需的,但滥施的、跟风的同情,却失去了意义。网络舆论盲目＂悯弱＂的群体极化效应极不利于公众的理性思考和健康监督,势必影响社会成员之间的认同和凝聚,引诱人们走向极端,对社会产生巨大的离心影响。社会公众有必要对网络＂悯弱＂舆论进行认真反思,寻求其理性的回归,以促进社会和谐的实现。     

新形势下农民素质面临的现状及应对策略——以吉林省为例

建设社会主义新农村，不仅要培养有文化、懂技术、会经营的新型农民，而且要提高农民（农民工及子女）的综合素质，主要是提高他们的文化素质、从业能力、法律意识、思想道德水准、身体素质等，以期促进和谐乡村建设。     

Institutional constraints on cabinet formation: Veto points and party system dynamics

Research on government formation in parliamentary democracies has presented contradicting evidence on the role of political veto institutions and parliamentary polarization on the formation of cabinet types. Institutional rules may either provide significant leeway for political parties or seriously constrain them when forming sustainable coalitions. In contrast to previous studies we argue that the effect of political institutions is conditional on the degree of polarization in parliament. We test our hypotheses using original data on 842 cabinet formations in 33 advanced democracies between 1945–2018. In line with previous research, we find that the institutional rules have a pronounced effect on the type of cabinet formed, but that institutional rules moderate the effect of party system polarization. Thus, our findings provide important new insights on cabinet formation which are particularly relevant for today's increasingly polarized parliaments.     

Legislative Fragmentation and Government Spending in Presidential Democracies: Bringing Ideological Polarization into the Picture

We claim that, in presidential democracies, the effect of increasing fragmentation on government spending should be conditional on polarization, defined as the ideological distance between the government's party and other parties in Congress. We build a model where this result follows from negotiations between the legislature and an independent government seeking the approval of its initiatives—as in presidential democracies. Using cross‐country data over time, we test the empirical validity of our claim finding that, in presidential democracies, there is indeed a positive effect of fragmentation only when polarization is sufficiently high. The same is not true for parliamentary democracies.