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Delia Zollinger (University of Zurich)

20 February 2025 @ 14:15 - 15:30

 

Details

Date:
20 February 2025
Time:
14:15 - 15:30
Event Category:
Academic Events

Cleavage Formation in the 21st Century


Abstract: Western Europe is experiencing growing levels of political polarization between parties of the New Left and the Far Right. We argue that this antagonism reflects the emergence of a social cleavage between universalism and particularism. To understand cleavage formation in the midst of party system fragmentation and the proliferation of new competitors, we emphasize the crucial role of group identities. Anchored in social structure, group identities help us understand why specific party appeals resonate with certain groups, thereby mediating the link between socio-structural change and broader party blocks defined by their distinctive ideologies along the new cleavage. Based on original survey data from France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, this book presents evidence for the formation of a universalism-particularism cleavage across European party systems that diverge strongly on institutional and political characteristics, highlighting the similarities in the structural and identity-based processes that provide a joint foundation for cleavage formation.