From Identity to Cleavage: Parties and the Transformation of European Territorial Identification

• In Event: Political Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Nations and Nationalisms (Table 1)

Abstract

European radical-right leaders have described contemporary political conflict in terms of patriotic “nationalist” voters defending local ways of life against globally minded “cosmopolitans.” Research finds that such appeals have a basis in citizens’ territorial identifications and reliably sort them into radical-right and new left supporters. But where did such a division come from? Does it reflect long-standing identification patterns that parties have recently politicized, or have parties cultivated the very identities they claim to represent? Using latent class analysis and 1995–2007 Eurobarometer data, I find that territorial identification patterns underwent rapid transformation in the late 1990s, coinciding with major European institutional reforms. While particularism previously dominated, an inclusive, pluralist form of identification became the most common by 1999, a reversal that continued precisely as radical-right parties gained prominence. Using panel data from the 2017 German federal election, I find that voters’ identification patterns can change modestly during political campaigns and that radical-right supporters were particularly likely to transition from pluralism to particularism. These findings show how stable identity structures emerge from institutional developments but do not automatically become politically significant. The radical right’s electoral success, despite the long-term decline of particularism in the electorate, underscores parties’ autonomous role in incorporating identities within political cleavages.

Author

• Martin Lukk, University of Toronto